Re: Is C/C++ the future?

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <CyCuBC.JnF@ois.com>, R. William Beckwith <beckwb@ois.com> wrote:
>Michael Feldman (mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu) wrote:
>
>: You'd be surprised how far you can get by writing C, compiling it
>: with a C++ compiler, and then claiming to all who will listen that
>: you've written in C++. :-) :-)
>
>There's still the problem of trying to use the C code that didn't
>get compiled with your C++ compiler.

Sure. I was just being smart-ass, pointing at the fact that there seems
to be a fair amount of C masquerading as C++, so that folks can please 
their managers or customers. This is anecdotal; I don't have proof.
I hope nobody took me seriously - there were _two_ smileys up there.
>
>: (Undoubtedly there will be an Ada version of this phenomenon at some
>: point in the near future. :-))
>
>Fortunately the jump from Ada 83 to Ada 9X is much smaller than the
>leap from C to C++.

Yes. Indeed, I wish we would all agree to make _less_ of a big deal
about Ada 9X. There are enough _Ada 83_ success stories out there
to tell us, and the rest of the world, that Ada 83 has NOTHING to be
embarrassed about. 

If you have not read all the success stories (I posted a few new ones
here last week) grab 'em from the AJPO machine or the Web server. You'll
be pleasantly surprised.

Not all applications need inheritance (indeed, NONE of the successful 
projects have used inheritance because they are all Ada 83); not all 
applications need the improved tasking and protected types.

The niceties in Ada 9X are an _improvement_ on something that is starting
out as a damn nice invention to begin with. In the heat of discussion
of Ada 9X details, let's try not to forget that. And tell your friends.

Mike Feldman
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Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
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