Re: C is 'better' than Ada because...

[kdq@emoryi.jpl.nasa.gov (Kevin D. Quitt)]

On Thu, 18 Jul 1996 08:52:35 -0600, helink@sandia.gov (Hamilton Link) wrote:
>1) programming well is just as easy in assembly as Ada, and

My point is that it must be the programmer who writes well; a language cannot
force you to write good code.  It can certainly help.

A poorly chosen algorithm is not an excuse for using assembler to help regain
the time lost due to the original poor design.  For those occasions where
response time has to be measured in micro-seconds or less, HLLs rarely
suffice.  When they do, use the HLL.


>But for this very slight percent speedup, what has been sacrificed?  Let's
>make a list:...Readability...Portability...Modifiability

Which is why it shouldn't be used unless it's the only thing that will make
the project work.  For commercial applications, and even most OS work, it
isn't necessary and shouldn't be used.  For embedded applications with special
hardware and special requirements, it's likely always to be necessary.


>I prefer OS/2 to DOS because when something goes
>wrong I can kill the process rather than reboot my machine. 

Under any circumstances you want to be able to determine the problem.  I was
speaking more towards writing through a null pointer under UNIX versus under
MSDOS.  In the former, you get a core dump (or trapped back to your debugger)
such that you can always determine where the write takes place.  Under MS-DOS,
you get a cryptic message when you exit the program, with no way to tell where
the offense occurred.  This latter tends to make for programs that work by
accident, and not by design.


I don't think we really disagree (much, anyway).  I do not think people should
be programming in assembler unless that's what it takes to make things work at
all; doing embedded code, the credo is "whatever's necessary" (accent on the
necessity).

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