Re: Proving Correctness (was Java Portability)

[Larry Elmore <ljelmore@home.com>]

Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen wrote:
> 
> Larry Elmore <ljelmore@home.com> writes:
> 
> > nicolas wrote:
> > >
> 
> > > I'd really like to see you in a TV store :-)
> > > "Stephen, give me money now, I'm going to develop a great TV set, build a
> > > factory, and I promise you will have a great TV set within a few years ..."
> >
> > Duh... What do you think investors do every day? How in the world do you
> > think the vast majority of companies got started in the first place?
> > Government mandate, or magic?
> >
> > Larry
> 
> But he's not an investor, he's potential customer in the mass
> market. There is a difference you know, and compilers and libraries
> are commodities these days, not custom-made.

Not if the library doesn't yet exist and isn't available from _any_
supplier. In that case, you either write it yourself, you contract with
someone else to write it for you, or you wait for someone to develop it
(which might not be an option depending on when you really need it, and
on how specialized it might be). Not all compilers are commodity items,
either. The vast majority of custom compilers and interpreters are
developed in-house, I'm sure, but I doubt all of them are. There are
probably more of these than you might think.

Larry