Re: Ada vs C++, Franz Lisp to the rescue?

[ted@grebyn.com (Ted Holden)]

In article <9105211321.AA05681@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu> SAHARBAUGH@ROO.FIT.EDU writes:

>Vendors are expected to overstate the worth
>of their product, the legal term is "puffing",
>BUT are we missing something by not discussing
>Franz Lisp in the same context as C++ when
>discussing the "vs Ada" language issue?
>sam harbaugh saharbaugh@ROO.FIT.EDU        

You're not missing much.  Franz Lisp does not include the low-level
power and flexibility of C/C++, the immediate handles into every kind of
UNIX functionality, the immediate applicability of every new development
in the industry...  A lot of the discussion revolves around the phrase
"reusability of code".  The best book available on the topic is the
Programmer's Connection catalog, the most major catalog for
programmer/developer/designer tools in the mini/micro world.  You'll
find about a fifth to a half a column's worth of aftermarket stuff
available for each of the other languages, and several whole pages for
C, such is the dominance of C/C++ in America's market at present.  
Future medium-large systems will be parallel machines made from these
same microchips, and will be programmed with similar software.  C++ is
the best compromise available for the next ten years or so.  LISP may 
or may not be a better language if you could confine yourself to one
platform and one class of programs to write forever, but life isn't
like that.

Ted Holden
HTE