From: porco@stat.Berkeley.EDU (Travis C. Porco)
Subject: Re: Assistance needed
Date: 1998/07/29
Date: 1998-07-29T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <6pmanb$6qu$1@agate.berkeley.edu> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 6pm0aq$8bu$1@uuneo.neosoft.com
In article <6pm0aq$8bu$1@uuneo.neosoft.com>,
Robert B. Love <rlove@antispam.neosoft.com> wrote:
>In <35BCF867.E7EA0EF0@catalina-inter.net> "Chris Sparks (aka Mr. Ada)"
>wrote:
>> to quote "BAD" examples of C++ usage on projects.
>> Examples I have seen are:
>> Navy plight with Windows NT
>> Colorado Airport baggage snafu
>If memory serves, the language used in the Denver baggage system had
>nothing to do with the problem. The system was poorly designed, it
>ran open loop and used timing to know when bags were in a certain area,
>not a sensor. As much as I'm pro Ada I can't see blaming the choice
>of C++. Double check this.
>Of course you could say anyone silly enough to try this open loop
>strategy would be silly enough to use C++ but I wouldn't go that
>far.
Aside from the Joyner paper, which I'm sure you've seen, I don't know
of much. There is very little good data on programming languages,
and a lot of hot air (computing is very emotional). I only do small
time one-person stuff, where programmer time is at a premium, and I
learned a long time ago that (1) programming is extremely demanding,
and (2) anything that lightens the load is a big help.
So I won't
do imperative programming in anything other than Ada; the attention
to readability and "human factors" in general in the language design
is a Good Thing! (We need _a priori_ reasons for language choice,
since there is no good data; to me, one significant fact about Ada
is the fact that human factors played a conscious role in the design.)
When Ada83 first came out, a lot of hackers rejected it because of
its complexity, and association with the military (the notion of
"private" types was particularly offensive to some people). But a few
years later, after straining at this gnat, they swallowed a camel:
C--. I made a real effort to learn C++, spending all together several
months, and it's just too difficult to bother with; the juice isn't
worth the squeeze. That's just one person's self-selected testimonial,
so it's not worth diddly-squat as data, but there you have it.
--
Travis **standard disclaimers apply**
"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly
is to fill the world with fools." --Herbert Spencer
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1998-07-29 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1998-07-27 0:00 Assistance needed Chris Sparks (aka Mr. Ada)
1998-07-29 0:00 ` Robert B. Love
1998-07-29 0:00 ` Travis C. Porco [this message]
1998-07-29 0:00 ` Travis C. Porco
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