Re: Thus spake the DoD...

[tjj@ssc-vax.UUCP (T J Jardine)]

> Mr. Shebs asks for one thing that Pascal or Ada do better than Lisp.  One
> thing is that Pascal runs on the IBM PC and other low-end, cheap, widely
> available hardware platforms.  If you want other people to buy your programs,
> this can be an important thing.  Lisp has a reputation for not running well
> on small cheap boxes.  If this reputation is deserved, then Pascal is a better
> choice for some applications.  (Elegance isn't everything.  Profitability
> counts too.)
> 
> I don't read this group frequently so you might want to send replies to me
> via mail.
>                        -- David Schachter

I've sent David a personal copy of this reply, but since he chose to send to
the net, I thought it only fair that my reply should be available to the same
audience.  I think that Pascal is a fine tool for certain things, and Lord
knows I certainly hope that the DoD finds some fine applications for Ada one
of these centuries, since I'd like to see some kind of return for all the
red ink we spill.  But seriously, folks, I have yet to see a profitable Ada
program, and so has the DoD.  I'd also like to see anything but a toy system
written in an implementation of Pascal according to the original report that
defines same.  Every Pascal implementation, from UCSD Pascal on a 6502 to
Pascal on IBM or even Pascal on Unix, has had to deal with implementation
choices and "features" that the authors of Pascal either chose to avoid or
did not forsee.  I don't cast aspersions to Wirth and company; there are a
lot more issues involved than one can fit into a compact language.  What one
needs to look at is the style of problem solving.  Fortran constrains; PL/I
constrains a little bit less; Ada constrains in different ways and with
unforeseen baggage; Lisp really requires that one change his/her point of
view in problem solving, and once you have done that you have whole new
worlds opened up.  We may build on Lisp; we may even suffer under various
dialects of Lisp for some time to come; but we will not find a better
fundamental approach to problem solving than Lisp embodies for many lifetimes
to come.  Sorry for the length, but I got stuck on my soap box again!

Ted Jardine
-- 
TJ (with Amazing Grace) The Piper
Boeing Artificial Intelligence Center
...uw-beaver!ssc-vax!bcsaic!ted