Re: Ichibah flames, and flames out over, Ada 9X

[enterpoop.mit.edu!linus!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!paladin.american.edu !darwin.sura.net!seas.gwu.edu!mfeldman@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Michael Feldman)]

In article <1993Feb25.235118.8156@wdl.loral.com> mab@wdl39.wdl.loral.com (Mark 
A Biggar) writes:

>Most of the current OO comunity has never seen anything except C++, so
>how could they have embraced anything else.  Note that CLOS in Common LISP
>is not really class based (Class based: using simula like classes as the
>major structuring and encapsulation method) and is really closer to
>Ada tagged types then anything else.  Smalltalk is its own little world.
>Everything else OO is either too academic or too little know to have had any
>affect on any large portion of the current OO community.
>
Correct! Much of the supposed OO community in industry is really the C++
community, which seems to think that the only way to do OO is the C++ way.
The most extreme case is those whose understanding of OO can be summarized
"I don't know much about it, but I've heard it's that stuff that C++ can
do that Ada can't." There's a LOT of this around, folks.

I think it was Robert Dewar of NYU who, some years ago in a discussion
about some Ada feature or other (maybe tasking), said "Look, you may
have one model in mind; Ada has another. Just because Ada didn't
adopt _your_ model doesn't make Ada wrong."

I think it's high time to look at Ada on its own merits, and consider
soberly and impartially whether Ada can do our job. We will get nowhere
continually comparing Ada to C++ as though C++ had a monopoly on truth.

Constantly asking "which is better" is futile, because nobody knows,
nobody _can_ know, and even the cost-effectiveness question can be
answered only after years of experience, and the answer _still_ will 
depend upon how the numbers are cooked.

Show me some _solid_ evidence about classes vs. tagged types. I claim
there is none and won't be for years. So let's get back to work.

This newsgroup somehow manages to get back around to this pi**ing match
every few weeks. I am thoroughly bored with it, and you must be too...

Mike Feldman