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=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10261c,90121986704b5776 X-Google-Attributes: gid10261c,public X-Google-Thread: 10c950,90121986704b5776 X-Google-Attributes: gid10c950,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: fdb77,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,4873305131bf4d94 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public From: Steve Ropa Subject: Re: ADA and Pascal SUCK, C,C++, and Java are the only languages you need!! Date: 1997/10/30 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 286878450 References: <34557f2b.1934172@news.mindspring.com> <34566fe9.447229@news.mindspring.com> <345673af.1413708@news.mindspring.com> <3458FFA1.27E2@le.ac.uk> Organization: Dimensional Communications Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.lang.pascal.ansi-iso,comp.lang.pascal.misc Date: 1997-10-30T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: On Thu, 30 Oct 1997, Dr E. Buxbaum wrote: > The Modula-3 FAQ reports an interesting experiment: Students of a > programming class were given an assignment to be completed by a > specified date. They were given the choice of 3 implementation > languages: Modula-3, Borland Pascal and C++. Modula-3 was the recomended > language, and most of the programming novices choose that. All students > which choose C++ had previous knowledge of this language and rated > themselfs as "experienced programmers". > > The results were as follows: From the students who choose Modula-3, 4 > out of 5 completed their assignment on time. With Borland Pascal, 2 out > of 3 managed to do this. From the students using C++, none did. Even > after been given an extension to complete their project, these students > delivered code of inferior quality compared to those using Modula and > Pascal. > > In other words: Novices using Modula produced better code quicker, than > "experienced programmers" using C++! > > On the jobs issue, it is certainly true that there are plenty of jobs > for C and C++ programmers. However, there are also lots of jobs for > people using Borland Pascal or Delphi, and if you want to do anything > for the US goverment, than you better know your Ada. Few people would > dare to programm mission critical applications (like nuclear power plant > or weapons system control software) in C, objective C or C++, and I > would not expect Java to turn out any different. Your example is fascinating. I wonder, though how "experienced" those C++ programmers were. Many people seem to think that just because they can run a couple of wizards, they are C++ programmers. The end result is that they don't learn the language, and are incapable of producing a high quality product, on time or otherwise. As far as daring to use C or C++ for mission critical systems, I would point out that the majority of the telecommunications systems in the world are running on top of Unix, which as we all know is written in C. I myself(along with a half dozen other team members) have written several long distance Network Management systems in C++. My team is about to start on a Satellite communications system in C++. Oddly, it is replacing a system written in Ada. This is not to put down Ada, as I feel every language has its place. Just don't rule out the stability and reliability of C or C++. Steve