Re: C bug of the day

["Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca>]

Erlo Haugen wrote:
> On 11 Jun 2003 02:22:09 -0700
> kanze@gabi-soft.fr wrote:
> ---Cut---
> 
>>I didn't say that there weren't better languages.  I only said that
>>there wasn't a perfect language.
> 
> ---Cut---
> 
> No language can be perfect, I guess. What is good for some kind of tasks might
> be bad in other cases. Ada has its strengths and weaknesses (think about string
> handling). I don't think anyone would even think about Ada for embedded
> applications in 8 bit MCU's as an example.
> 
> Erlo

I don't see string handling as being a "weakness". I know I sure
saw it that way when I was first starting to use the language. But
with the necessary experience, you learn the "Ada way" of working
with strings (this includes how to use native strings and when to
use Ada.Strings.Unbounded etc.)

If you want to be picky, C has "weaknesses" with strings too. For
example if you want to return a string value as a parameter, you
have to supply its maximum length as a separate argument (the
string pointer itself does not reflect how much room you have for
the result). There are other ways of returning strings through a
parameter, but none of them without their own caveats.

Ada does require the programmer to think differently to use "native
strings". But this is not necessarily a "weakness" because it is
different.

-- 
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg