From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,253505146ffff940 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Lao Xiao Hai Subject: Re: The greatest feature of the language is .... Date: 2000/10/06 Message-ID: <39DE0F1A.CA9AA9F4@ix.netcom.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 678375713 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <39DCBA28.E504523B@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com> X-Accept-Language: en X-Server-Date: 6 Oct 2000 17:48:48 GMT Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 2000-10-06T17:48:48+00:00 List-Id: Wes Groleau wrote: > Suppose someone wanted to invent a new language. People are inventing new languages all the time. Most recently, Microsoft has introduced a new language call C#, pronounced C Sharp. Because Microsoft has its money behind the success of this language, it will probably become important. This is Bill Gates' opening salvo against Java. It will probably be a success. Then again, IBM, with all its market clout in the "Sixties" could not promote the dominance of PL/I. Who knows? C# still has C-family syntax, but has eliminated a lot of the C-family semantics. The famous, if (i = 0) ..., that has plagued every C language dialect is now illegal in C#. The designers of C# have placed other restrictions on the compiler. There are even explicit out mode parameters in function calls. Gone is multiple inheritance. When I discussed the disappearance of MI with a C#-aware person from Microsoft, he noted that MI is probably still a research topic. C# has added more accessibility levels, cleaned up many of the C++ problems with pointers, has a more Ada-like model for importing compiled library units, and lots of other features that will look familiar to the Ada programmer. The enemy may have been C++, but that was an easy target because of is messy rules, absurd syntax, and crazy semantics. The challenge for Ada, in the future, may be C#, a language characterized by more rigor and greater reliability that we have seen in other members of the C family of languages. C# will be included in the Visual Studio release 7. It is going to be an important language. Richard Riehle