Re: Misconception about Ada?

[Ted Dennison<dennison@telepath.com>]

In article <Pine.BSF.4.21.0102121155250.19870-100000@shell5.ba.best.com>,
Brian
Rogoff says...
>On Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:15:21 GMT, Ted Dennison wrote:
>>
>I learned that term as more like someone who subscribes to the "just
>> >make it work" philosophy. As such, it is not a kind term, or a term that
>> >would describe most Ada enthusiasts.
>> >
..
>When I was an an undergrad it meant someone who got explored tunnels and
>buildings, often bypassing security. A computer hacker was someone who
>explored computers, and built things, it was pretty much positive. Here's

Interesting difference. I assume you picked this up from your Computer Science
department?

It also occurs to me that I had a freshman engineering chemistry professor from
some scandanavian country (old as dirt, and ornery as a mule) who used to throw
the term "hackers" at the class as an epithet all the time. I never did quite
figure out exactly what he was trying to imply, but perhaps that also
predisposed me against the term.

>...  I think Ada is an even better "hacking" (and I use this in the sense
>you seem to be using it, coding with little design) language than C, since
>Ada's safety measures allow you to hack away with less debugging effort.

*Nothing* saves the "hacker" (my sense), short of a transfer. :-) However, I'd
think Ada would be particularly annoying for them, as the typing system requires
a certain amount of thinking ahead in order to prevent you from painting
yourself into a corner. In fact, we have in the past heard from a "hacker" in
this very newsgroup who complained that this damn language won't let them just
write stuff without sitting down and thinking about what they are doing first. :-)




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