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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fac41,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,b87849933931bc93 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: bobduff@world.std.com (Robert A Duff) Subject: Re: OO, C++, and something much better! Date: 1997/01/30 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 213169168 references: <32EFB3D4.167E@hso.link.com> organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.ada,comp.object,comp.software-eng Date: 1997-01-30T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <32EFB3D4.167E@hso.link.com>, Stanley R. Allen wrote: >Robert A Duff wrote: >> So I don't buy the idea that you can just choose whatever language is >> best for each module, and then paste them together. > >In the future this may be commonplace and quite easy, if everyone can >specify their interfaces in a 'neutral' language like CORBA's IDL. Nah. IDL is just one more language. Interfacing between IDL and (whatever-your-favorite-programming-language) is costly. It's worth it, sometimes, but nonetheless costly. There is no "language neutral" language, IMHO. Nor can there be. IDL supports multiple inheritance, but some languages don't. For example. >Having a neutral interface language with standard mappings would go >a long way to improving the programming landscape. CORBA IDL may >herald a renaissance of multi-linguism in software development, >something which has been slowly dying over the last decade, mainly >due to the need to conform to C as the least-common denominator >for interfacing. IDL (and/or something like it) can improve things, but it's no panacea, IMHO. - Bob