From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,INVALID_DATE, MSGID_SHORT autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Xref: utzoo comp.lang.ada:3299 comp.lang.c:26193 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!mintaka!ogicse!emory!hubcap!grimlok From: grimlok@hubcap.clemson.edu (Mike Percy) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c Subject: Re: problems/risks due to programming language Message-ID: <8119@hubcap.clemson.edu> Date: 22 Feb 90 18:28:20 GMT References: <8103@hubcap.clemson.edu> Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC List-Id: >From article <8103@hubcap.clemson.edu>, by billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe, 2847 ): [Ada is great, Ada is wonderful, nothing can beat Ada, if you don't program in Ada you are stupider than worm-slime, blah blah blah] I've used Ada Bill, I even liked it. But, I am really getting tired of reading your diatribes against every other programming language, of reading your praises of Ada to the exclusion of all others. I use the language I feel is best for the particular problem at hand. I drop into assembly to optimize a speed-critical section of code. I use C for portability (right, I know, there are n fully verified Ada compilers running of x different machines, so how can Ada not be portable?) and speed of coding (my speed is higher in C than in Ada or any other language, this is subject to change of course), I use COBOL at work because that is the language the systems I maintain, I use a quasi-4GL when I can to spit out 3GL code. SOmetimes I use SNOBOL, Lisp, or Prolog, or Pascal. I've seen some Ada code that must have been written by brain-damaged idiots. And I've seen some beautifully written assembly. The point is, that the programming practices are what makes the difference. It is entirely reasonable to engineer software in C or Prolog or... Just as it is reasonably easy to mangle Ada. Granted, Ada lends itself to good software engineering practices, probably you could even say that it encourages it. However, it does not guarantee it, nor does the failure to use Ada preclude good software engineering practices. My guess is that Ada will gain a load of users and their respect when there is a Microsoft Ada or better yet (or worse yet) a Turbo Ada. Anyway please try to keep your pro-Ada, anti-everything-else stuff in check. -- 'I just couldn't convince the voters that Dukakis was Greek for "Bubba".' -- Lloyd Benson explaining why the Democrats didn't carry Texas