From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM, LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 2002:a37:9a4a:: with SMTP id c71mr14104574qke.258.1565277825065; Thu, 08 Aug 2019 08:23:45 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 2002:aca:5a41:: with SMTP id o62mr3062360oib.110.1565277824766; Thu, 08 Aug 2019 08:23:44 -0700 (PDT) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!feeder.usenetexpress.com!feeder-in1.iad1.usenetexpress.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!b26no658907qtq.0!news-out.google.com!y1ni217qtn.0!nntp.google.com!b26no658898qtq.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2019 08:23:44 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <1992Dec4.141816.1@happy.colorado.edu> Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=202.67.103.232; posting-account=S_MdrwoAAAD7T2pxG2e393dk6y0tc0Le NNTP-Posting-Host: 202.67.103.232 References: <1992Dec4.141816.1@happy.colorado.edu> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <13df6d16-2bdc-4f08-9458-601e09a66e5f@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: C++ vs. Ada -- Is Ada loosing? From: robin.vowels@gmail.com Injection-Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2019 15:23:45 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Xref: reader01.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:57010 Date: 2019-08-08T08:23:44-07:00 List-Id: On Saturday, December 5, 1992 at 7:18:16 AM UTC+11, srhe...@happy.colorado.edu wrote: > There are a lot of people out there who think C++ is the greatest thing since > sliced bread. C++ is a truly wonderful toy because you can redefine the > language for your application. > > For example you can provide the function that is invoked in response to > assignment so you can optimize your matrix class to (1) only pass a pointer to > the matrix data instead of actually making a physical copy and (2) defer the > actual copy operation to the point in time when (and if) the target of the > assignment is modified. This is impressive. > > HOWEVER, please read "A dynamic Vector is harder than it looks" from the June > 1992 is issue of JOOP (Journal of Object Oriented Programming) - vol 5 no 4. > *THIS ARTICLE IS SCARY* Basically Tom Cargill pointed out a bug that nearly > all C++ textbooks have made when they implement a dynamically sized array. > This includes the textbook written by the implementor of the AT&T Cfront > compiler (will I get in trouble if I mention his name?). If the language is so > convoluted that even the experts (including the compiler writers) cannot get > their simple textbook examples correct, then I conclude there is something > drastically wrong with the language. > > I don't want anybody writing code in C++ for satellites funded with my tax > dollars! > > I heard a rumer about a multi-million (or multi-billion) dollar satellite going > astray because some one left a comma out of a FORTRAN DO loop and it was still > syntactically legal. Can anybody give me a reference on this? I think that you are referring to a DO statement like: DO 50 I = 1.20 instead of DO 50 I = 1,20 In FORTRAN 77, both statements are correct. They are correct because spaces are ignored, but the first statement is an assignment statement, viz, DO50I = 1.20 not a loop control statement, and without any structure on a DO loop (there's no END of loop statement) the error could not be diagnosed by a compiler. If this was reported as a real event, this info may help you to find it. > So we have C++ with very similar problems to this problem in FORTRAN that (I > believe, correct me if I am wrong) Ada was supposed to solve. You can insert a > ";" between the ")" and the "{" in any while or if statement and the C++ > program is still syntactically correct but semantically disasterous. > > So, Ada was on the seen. I spent some significant time as a project lead with > Ada in '89-90. I was excited about the language. Now I am independent and > make my living with C++. > > Where is Ada going? Is it dying? That thread on "Is GNU-Ada self-insulting" > suggests that Ada is floundering. How badly is Ada floundering? Does that mean > I'll never see inheritance in Ada? > > Thanks, > Sieg