Re: Long names are doom ?

["Marin David Condic" <marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com>]

My table saw has a guard over the blade that shields the user from
accidentally bumping into the blade, reduces the flying sawdust and helps
prevent the workpiece from kicking back if the blade hangs on something. It
is a very nice safety feature that protects me on a lot of occasions.
However, I *can* and *do* from time to time remove it when I've got to cut
some workpiece that makes the guard awkward or impossible to live with.

I think Ada is similar. It has lots of checking to help insure you don't
shoot yourself in the foot. However, when the need arises, you can
circumvent the safety features. C is more like a saw that never came
equipped with such safety features. You can't add them on after the fact
very easily and are unlikely to do so. Better to have them there and
occasionally take them off than never have them there and mostly operate
without a net.

Hey! Maybe we can get OSHA to mandate the use of Ada???

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/

"Ted Dennison" <dennison@telepath.com> wrote in message
news:VLLT6.2273$bA3.110613@www.newsranger.com...
> Real-world tools are actually a damn good analogy here. For example,
whenever
> someone takes their fingers off with a table-saw, its the fault of the
user.
> However, that doesn't stop table-saw makers from putting guards and other
safety
> features on them, does it? Languages, like any other tool, can be designed
with
> user safety in mind, or they can be built in a way that practicly invites
users
> to maim themselves. Sure, its the user's own stupid fault when they do so.
But
> their first mistake was using the unsafely designed tool in the first
place.
>
> (I know, I know. Lawsuits are actually an issue here, and they aren't
typically
> in the software world. Please lets ignore that issue for a minute. No
analogy is
> perfect. )
>