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From: Brian Rogoff <bpr@shell5.ba.best.com>
Subject: Re: Distinguishing type names from other identifiers
Date: 1998/01/16
Date: 1998-01-16T00:00:00+00:00	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980116171810.3901B-100000@shell5.ba.best.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: dewar.884996184@merv


On 16 Jan 1998, Robert Dewar wrote:
> This is apples and oranges. Of course everyone agrees that code should
> be written in a clear manner avoiding nasty things etc etc, but you cannot
> legislate good code by automatic rules.
> 
> On the other hand, uniformity of syntax is NOT about reducing bugs. It is
> about creating a code base that everyone in the group feels comfortable
> with, so that you avoid the phenomenon, all too common I am afraid in many
> large projects, of individuals "owning" pieces of the code and (a) not
> wanting anyone else to mess with their parts and (b) not being willing to
> mess with other peoples code.

It is this attitude, apparently very common amongst Ada programmers, and
espoused regularly on this newsgroup, that makes me like the Ada community 
more than any other. While I haven't been around as long as Robert Dewar, 
and disagree with him on the "_T" as noise assessment :-), his
characterization of the way many software projects mismanaged is eerily
familiar to me, and his prescription for solving some of these problems
by firing the losers who have to do things their way seems eminently
reasonable. It is also, unfortunately, contrary to the way most projects
I've worked in are run. 

It's this kind of post that will turn me into an Ada fanatic :-)

-- Brian






  parent reply	other threads:[~1998-01-16  0:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 69+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
1998-01-13  0:00 Distinguishing type names from other identifiers Adam Beneschan
1998-01-14  0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-15  0:00   ` Michael F Brenner
1998-01-15  0:00     ` Nick Roberts
1998-01-16  0:00       ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-16  0:00         ` Michael F Brenner
1998-01-16  0:00           ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-16  0:00             ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-16  0:00             ` Brian Rogoff [this message]
1998-01-17  0:00               ` nabbasi
1998-01-18  0:00                 ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-18  0:00                   ` who owns the code? was " nabbasi
1998-01-18  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-19  0:00                       ` nabbasi
1998-01-19  0:00                         ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-20  0:00                           ` Paul Van Bellinghen
1998-01-21  0:00                             ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-21  0:00                               ` nabbasi
1998-01-22  0:00                                 ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-22  0:00                                   ` nabbasi
1998-01-21  0:00                               ` nabbasi
1998-01-22  0:00                                 ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-26  0:00                           ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-20  0:00                       ` Anonymous
1998-01-20  0:00                         ` Robert Dewar
     [not found]               ` <69rnvv$ <dewar.885475174@me>
1998-01-23  0:00                 ` James Hopper
1998-01-23  0:00                 ` James Hopper
1998-01-22  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
     [not found]                 ` <6a8mir$caa@nn <dewar.8855 <6a8vgd$cr7@nntp1.erinet.com>
1998-01-23  0:00                   ` Richard Kenner
1998-01-23  0:00                   ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-23  0:00                     ` Paul Van Bellinghen
1998-01-23  0:00                       ` Robert Dewar
     [not found]                 ` <6a8mir$caa@nn <dewar.8855 <6a8vgd$cr7@nn <dewar.885555487@merv>
1998-01-24  0:00                   ` James Hopper
1998-01-21  0:00           ` Philip Brashear
1998-01-20  0:00         ` Benoit Jauvin-Girard
1998-01-20  0:00           ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-19  0:00 ` who owns the code? was " Anonymous
1998-01-19  0:00   ` Robert Dewar
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1998-01-25  0:00 tmoran
1998-01-25  0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-26  0:00   ` Nick Roberts
1998-01-14  0:00 tmoran
1998-01-14  0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-14  0:00   ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-14  0:00     ` nabbasi
1998-01-15  0:00       ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-10  0:00 Two simple language questions (plural types) Matthew Heaney
1998-01-12  0:00 ` Anonymous
1998-01-12  0:00   ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-12  0:00     ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-13  0:00       ` Robert Dewar
1998-01-13  0:00         ` Distinguishing type names from other identifiers Nick Roberts
1998-01-13  0:00           ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-14  0:00             ` Stephen Leake
1998-01-24  0:00               ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-15  0:00             ` Anonymous
1998-01-24  0:00               ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-24  0:00                 ` Martin M Dowie
1998-01-24  0:00                 ` Martin M Dowie
1998-01-25  0:00                   ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-15  0:00           ` Aaro Koskinen
1998-01-17  0:00             ` Martin M Dowie
1998-01-17  0:00               ` Martin M Dowie
1998-01-25  0:00               ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-25  0:00                 ` Brian Rogoff
     [not found]                 ` <n5rs5FAStOz0Ew2+@dowie-cs.demon.co.uk>
1998-01-26  0:00                   ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-27  0:00                     ` Martin M Dowie
1998-01-27  0:00                       ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-27  0:00                         ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-28  0:00                           ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-28  0:00                             ` Matthew Heaney
1998-01-29  0:00                               ` Brian Rogoff
1998-01-30  0:00                             ` Mats Weber
1998-01-28  0:00                         ` Martin M Dowie
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