Re: Language Flames

[rharwood@east.pima.edu]

Aw shucks, Mike... I was hoping the flames would continue just a little longer
so that I'd have more incentive to learn the KILL option of NEWS!  I HAVE heard
verbal complaints from readers of the INFO-ADA list who don't have much choice
but to labor through the whole muck.

In reality, it is a shame to have 500 and 700 line messages floating all over
the countryside which so blatantly SHOUT one's opinion.  If I am successful at
starting a CompuServe Ada Forum, such opinions will be welcomed, but few people
will tolerate spending a single nickel reading articles of the tone so recently
endured here, even at only $6 or $12 an hour.

I can't and won't argue for/against C++ because I don't know the language.  I
CAN argue the merits of structured design and coding.  The analogy I often tout
is that coding in Ada grabs you by the arm and LEADS you down a structured
path, but coding with C -- while you CAN mold it into bricks -- tends to fall
helter-skelter in a heap of <something>.

I've had students whose first language was Pascal remark, after taking C, "Gee,
I don't know what all the fuss is about, with a little effort you can write
structured code in C just as well as you can in any other language."  On the
other hand, "C-first" students generally remark: "I don't know why you go to
all that extra effort to write structured code in the first place; my version
works just as well as yours and it only took 100 lines.  Oh, don't worry about
maintenance, this is just a student exercise, and if it was the real world,
someone else would have to worry about re-writing it... they'd probably just
junk it and start all over anyway."  How right they are!

OK, so I don't have sworn affadavits for the above statements, but they DO
reflect the attitudes of 5 consecutive semesters of data structures students...
-----
Ray Harwood           |Data Basix           |Associate Faculty,    
Voice: (602)721-1988  |PO Box 18324         |   Pima Community College
FAX:   (602)721-7240  |Tucson, AZ 85731     |Instructor in Ada and Pascal
CompuServe: 76645,1370|AppleLink: DATA.BASIX|Internet: rharwood@east.pima.edu