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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,d89b08801f2aacae X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-04-30 14:31:19 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!cyclone.columbus.rr.com!cyclone3.kc.rr.com!news3.kc.rr.com!twister.socal.rr.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3CCF0D37.957E6901@san.rr.com> From: Darren New X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Is strong typing worth the cost? References: <4519e058.0204290722.2189008@posting.google.com> <3CCE8523.6F2E721C@earthlink.net> <3CCEB246.9090009@worldnet.att.net> <82347202.0204301317.2e4930e8@posting.google.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 21:30:09 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.75.151.160 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: twister.socal.rr.com 1020202209 66.75.151.160 (Tue, 30 Apr 2002 14:30:09 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 14:30:09 PDT Organization: RoadRunner - West Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:23297 Date: 2002-04-30T21:30:09+00:00 List-Id: Jim Rogers wrote: > You asked about cost. You did not specify the cost parameters you want to > measure. My experience with software is that software is a total waste > of exense UNLESS it is both safe and correct. Not always true. There is plenty of software that if it works 90% of the time it was worth the effort of writing it. Even though people complain mightily about all the bugs in MS software, it was still quite profitable to MS to write it. > This discussion may need to be reduced to a discussion of how to determine > the cost of software. Many organizations have no answer to the question > of how to determine the cost of software. Some people think software costs > only include coding costs. Some people include coding and design costs. > Some even add in maintenance costs. Other people see the primary cost > of software being the damages caused by the software when it malfunctions. Some see part of the cost of the software also to be the cost of running it. Otherwise, nobody would ever *re*write a piece of code from a HLL to assembler to make it more efficient. There's also the cost of distribution to consider - how much effort does it take to (say) write the scripts that install the software when it's done? Anyway, I strongly suspect that anyone who thinks x : Integer range 0..5000; as "strongly typed" and y : Integer; as "not strongly typed" is not going to come up with much worthwhile in terms of learning about the costs and benefits of different typing systems. -- Darren New San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand. The 90/10 rule of toothpaste: the last 10% of the tube lasts as long as the first 90%.