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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bc1361a952ec75ca X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-08-30 01:07:27 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!unlnews.unl.edu!newsfeed.ksu.edu!nntp.ksu.edu!news.okstate.edu!not-for-mail From: David Starner Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Progress on AdaOS Date: 30 Aug 2001 06:23:50 GMT Organization: Oklahoma State University Message-ID: <9mkm5m$aai1@news.cis.okstate.edu> References: <9IFe7.12813$6R6.1221214@news1.cableinet.net> <9lghqu$ac6$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B7C3293.76F49097@home.com> <9lhefg$lgd$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B7D47F1.25D6FC78@boeing.com> <5ee5b646.0108171856.18631c4c@posting.google.com> <3B7F624B.7294D24F@acm.org> <9lr6je$5hj$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9ltoi7$4is$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B82789B.8D195045@home.com> <9ltuo8$70n$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B829450.879B0396@home.com> <9mdh4e$q3v$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9me03r$c302@news.cis.okstate.edu> <3B8AB6C8.910130C8@san.rr.com> <9metfo$aai2@news.cis.okstate.edu> <3B8BC332.214F95CA@san.rr.com> <9mhmlg$9aa1@news.cis.okstate.edu> <3B8D1B8F.9BDEDC38@san.rr.com> Reply-To: dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org NNTP-Posting-Host: x8b4e5129.dhcp.okstate.edu User-Agent: slrn/0.9.7.2 (Linux) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:12587 Date: 2001-08-30T06:23:50+00:00 List-Id: On Wed, 29 Aug 2001 16:42:55 GMT, Darren New wrote: > Why is strong typing good in a programming language and bad in > persistant data? Because I don't usually end up trying to debug persistant data several months later, searching for one small minor bug. > OK, so you're only solving half the problem here. The content-type on > the file isn't sufficient to figure out what you can do with the file > without reading the data. Why bother with it at all? Most problems are unsolvable in the general form. It's basically an extension of the Halting problem. We can't completely optimize code, but we can try our best. >> What happens >> if you change it from Ada to Chill? > > Then you have to figure out how to serialize it or figure out how to > translate it without serializing it. Always coding every single program > to the worst-case conditions is going to lead to all kinds of problems. Is changing the language on a project really that rare? Deciding you can't do it in JavaScript, and go with Java or Ada? Find that you need to support Linux, so you change in from VBScript to JavaScript? >> How does the editor know what type >> to create? > > You tell it. Same as now. So you can create new types on the fly? >> However, the internal format for Emacs has been known to change >> between versions. It's hard to keep internal structures the same; much >> easier to conform to a consistent external standard. > > Errr, and the point is? The point is that if you dump the internal structures for version a, and try to load it with version b, it won't work. If you save a file as ISO-8859-1 plain text, and try to load with a different version, it will, even if b is a lot earlier than a. >> Also, I've worked with programs that used a database and those that use >> plain text files, and the latter seem more reliable. > > Sure thing. Tell this to the folks running the airline reservation > programs. Why do I care about the airline reservation programs? Maybe if I was dealing with the volume and amount of data they do, and I had the money to shell out for a decent database and the people to keep it working, I might. This has been a lot less productive than it could have been. I have been reading what you've been writing. This just happens to be so far out of my experiance that I'm not getting what you're saying. Part of the problem is I've been falling into an argumentative mode; but it would have been real helpful if you explained things up front - gave a definition of file from the start, for example, or maybe some references, web or book. -- David Starner - dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org Pointless website: http://dvdeug.dhis.org "I don't care if Bill personally has my name and reads my email and laughs at me. In fact, I'd be rather honored." - Joseph_Greg