Re: Cumbersome Polymorphism

[James O'Connor <joconnor@jmpstart.com>]

J-P. Rosen wrote:

[much deleted] 
> >Before using Ada I used Smalltalk.
> >A Smalltalk variable can hold an instance of any class.
> >Of course, this is possible because a Smalltalk variable is just
> >a pointer to dynamically allocated storage.
> >The important point though is that the pointers and the problems of
> >allocation and deallocation are hidden from the Smalltalk programmer,
> >while the Ada programmer is obliged to be (painfully) aware of them
> >much of the time.
> You said it: the smalltalk solution is the same as Ada. The only
> difference is the presence of absence of a garbage collector. Well,
> this is an other thread of discussion...
> 
> >I am left with the feeling that for object oriented progamming Ada 95
> >is heavily cerebral, not to say cumbersome.
> A bit of quick conclusion...

Depends on your point of view.  If your background is Ada83 or C++ or
some other language han maybe Ada95 looks great.  If you backgropund is
Smalltalk than Ada95 feels very cumbersome.  It's a matter of
perspective.

> 
> >There are certainly many large, highly reliable or safety-critical
> >applications where it should be the language of choice.
> >And at the other end of the spectrum Smalltalk is probably preferable
> >for small rapid prototyping.
> I agree with that

I wouldn't :)  Most commercial Smalltalk environments are very large and
as such, are not condusive to making 'small' prototypes.  Rapid
prototyping and RAD, yes.  Small, no.   Most Smalltalk environments are
actually designed for building large scale (distributed) systems.  Using
something like VisualAge or VisualWorks for small, quick, knock-off
protoypes is a waste of money and potential.


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-- 
James O'Connor 
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joconnor@jmpstart.com
http://www.jmpstart.com
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