Re: Programming language vote - results

[Alan E & Carmel J Brain <aebrain@dynamite.com.au>]

Randy MacDonald wrote:
>
> >> So, where's the code? Sounds like a challenge. 
> >No. Please. I'm begging.
> Thus you consider your security code a failure?

Nope. I just don't feel any tearing need to a) look up the hard copy
from 1981, b) transcribe the APL into ASCII equivalents for posting and
c) Expose to public view a piece of work I'm not particularly proud of.
Don't think anyone could learn from it, and I'm not being paid, so why
devote the time? 

> >Hence my preference for Ada. When listening to C weenies - er -
> >enthusiasts talking about how their code is so tight, so efficient, and
> >above all so impenetrable that it's obviously superior to another
> >solution (in Ada so clear that "Any Fool could have written that"),
> 
> This is the claim COBOL made also.  I don't believe that one either.
> My impression is that if an Ada program is clear, it probably isn't being
> used for its intended purpose, i.e. an embedded program.

Based upon what evidence? (No, this is not sarcasm, it's a request for
info that might teach me something, if it can penetrate my thick skull).
My own experience on embedded systems these past 12 years or so directly
contradicts this. If you wish, I'll quote some code fragments. I'd be
interested in whether you think them clear, and if not, why not.  

> We, and those of our clients who have used our "one-use throw-away"
> software for time now measureable in decades would probably differ on
> this.

Fair enough. I'm sure you're correct (heck, there are even people who
think RPG is just dandy). Can you tell me why though?

> >and where terseness if vital (as
> >in downloading complex programs over low-bandwidth data links).
> 
> If that were true, Java wouldn't exist.

??? Something with the terseness of APL, if it had the functionality of
Java plus a fair bit more, would be ideal. As it is, Java is
flavour-of-the-month, but has not been shown to be appropriate for
anything larger than relatively small applications. But now we're
straying into territory more appropriate to comp.lang.java, and I'm
adducing vague generalities without giving evidence, so I'd rather not
continue here.
  
> The structure is in the data, and more recently in the code.  A nice property
> of APL/J programs is that, where a structured look appears, for example, where
> a series of lines have parallel structure, the similarity can be factored out,
> leaving a series of individually unique lines.

Please elucidate. A code fragment illustrating this would be greatly
appreciated. My thanks for your time and effort.

I think, considering the cross-post, an equivalent in C, C++ and Ada-95
would be useful too. I'll add those, if you wish (or maybe some reader
who's more enthusiastic about C, C++ might be willing to). 

-- 
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