Re: Look what I caught! was re:Ada paper critic

[Vinzent Hoefler <JeLlyFish.software@gmx.net>]

kcline17@hotmail.com (Kevin Cline) wrote:

>Vinzent Hoefler <JeLlyFish.software@gmx.net> wrote in message news:<3d0e5750_2@news.bluewin.ch>...
> 
>> I got another impression from most Ada program(mer)s I've seen. My
>> personal experience shows me that the *hurry, hurry fast, if it works,
>> I'll never look at it again* approach is more wide-spread in other
>> languages.
>
>Other languages are used by for-profit companies in competitive markets.

Well, might be.

>Ada tends to be used for long term one-of-a-kind development projects
>being paid for by governmental agencies.

Well. I have not seen a lot of Ada code from such projects now. I can
only refer to the things I have seen and for me Ada looked
substantially better even if written by a non-professional than the
average C/C++ code from experienced people who should know much better
how to write readable code.

So *for me* it seems that the Ada-language seems to encourage people
of using a more readable style.

>> Well, considering how many of those few seconds I already hang around
>> with C++ code to see how this or that function is declared and if it
>> changes something, this sounds funny. In C++ I can even overload the
>> [] operator, this changes the whole world.
>
>You can overload the function-call operator too.  Both are very useful
>in the right situation.

ACK. So "()" vs. "[]" changes nothing. You will *always* have to take
a look at the declaration if you want to know for sure.

>> No. Its not a long time ago (was it in c.l.a.?) I read that C arrays
>> are one element more on the right and left side because this becomes
>> handy in using some algorithms that intentionally might get out of
>> bounds. Such a design should make the code easier to write. Well, do
>> you call that *right*? I would not.
>
>Knowing so little about C and C++ I would think you would be
>more reluctant to criticize them.

*grr* Shall I be able to repeat the C++ language reference out of my
mind before qualifying to state about the language? IMO, I have done
enough things in C and even C++ that I consider me being able to spot
the points that made *my* life harder with that language. I have heard
a lot of silly things about Ada from people who didn't even ever seen
Ada code and I've seen a lot of silly things in C that turned out to
be true. So please let me the right to state things that might not be
correct about a language I'm quite used to without ever falling in
love with it.

The thing is I do substantially better code in C since I've did my
first readings about Ada. Especially after reading the Q&S. Is there
anything comparable for C++ available for free? I know a lot of people
I would give it to...

>  A C array does not contain
>"one element more" on either side.  The standard allows setting
>a pointer to the next element after the end of an array, but
>such a pointer can not be dereferenced.

Well. It *can*. With undefined results. These "undefined results" I
have come over too often really pissed me off. And hence, it was not
*my* code. I just had to *maintain* it.


Vin"Ok, I'll get a little drink from my "Buffer Overflow" glass from
thinkgeek now. :-)"zent.