Re: Software_engineers should know what Language?

Re: Software_engineers should know what Language?

[Robert Dewar]

In article <58j7om$239@anubis.reed.edu>, dmoore@reed.edu says...

...snip...

>  Again, not true.  If you know pascal, great.  If you are picking up
>the fundamentals of structured programming, pascal is a wonderful
>language to start with.  However, if you are already familiar with
>structured concepts, as anyone even moderately proficient in C, or
>C++ is likely to be, it is simply a waste of time to learn pascal.
>Software developers are not children.  They do not need the compiler
>to hold their hand while bludgeoning them with the fundamentals.  If
>they have bad habits, they should be pointed out, the consequences of
>such habits concretely explained, and shown the correct (?) alternatives.
>If this does not cure bad habits, pascal will not either.



Gosh, sounds like another dialog writer for Hacker Senior from 
Beltway Bandits Inc. :-)

Re: Software_engineers should know what Language?

[Robert S. White]

In article <58j7om$239@anubis.reed.edu>, dmoore@reed.edu says...

...snip...

>  Again, not true.  If you know pascal, great.  If you are picking up
>the fundamentals of structured programming, pascal is a wonderful
>language to start with.  However, if you are already familiar with
>structured concepts, as anyone even moderately proficient in C, or
>C++ is likely to be, it is simply a waste of time to learn pascal.
>Software developers are not children.  They do not need the compiler
>to hold their hand while bludgeoning them with the fundamentals.  If
>they have bad habits, they should be pointed out, the consequences of
>such habits concretely explained, and shown the correct (?) alternatives.
>If this does not cure bad habits, pascal will not either.

  Huh?  Sorry - I don't care how smart you are...Don't you think it is a good 
idea to use computers for what they are best at?  Find stupid human oversights 
early.  Use a language/tool which forces you to describe what you intend to do 
before you do it.  Then implement the do it.  If the solution does not do it 
right per the pre-definition (contract) then hope the compiler finds the error 
rather than a passenger aircraft crash.

  C or C++ don't do this.  Newer (or better thought out) languages like Java, 
Eiffel and especially Ada (for a long time) do.

  And yes I have done a lot of C (and some true C++) software.  Like it, but 
don't think they are suitable for programming in the large or for safety 
critical software.

  Just for the last 20 years in industy...
_______________________________________________________________________
Robert S. White                    -- an embedded sys software engineer
WhiteR@CRPL.Cedar-Rapids.lib.IA.US --long/cheap alternate I-net address

Re: Software_engineers should know what Language?

[Brian Orpin]

On 11 Dec 1996 05:13:41 GMT, WhiteR@CRPL.Cedar-Rapids.lib.IA.US
(Robert S. White) wrote:

>In article <58j7om$239@anubis.reed.edu>, dmoore@reed.edu says...

>Robert S. White                    -- an embedded sys software engineer
>WhiteR@CRPL.Cedar-Rapids.lib.IA.US --long/cheap alternate I-net address

Please try to post in the right group and not X post

Brian Orpin