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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f3437064e1091fec X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-07-15 01:51:35 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stueberl.de!newspeer1-gui.server.ntli.net!ntli.net!newsfep4-winn.server.ntli.net.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "chris.danx" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 X-Accept-Language: en, en-us MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: [ot] languages & academia was Re: What evil would happen? References: <5ad0dd8a.0307111151.4a08f95a@posting.google.com> <1LEPa.9034$nP.7178@newsfep4-winn.server.ntli.net> <5ad0dd8a.0307120426.226775f1@posting.google.com> <5ad0dd8a.0307130417.41548778@posting.google.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:32:27 +0100 NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.107.63.23 X-Complaints-To: abuse@ntlworld.com X-Trace: newsfep4-winn.server.ntli.net 1058225269 81.107.63.23 (Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:27:49 BST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:27:49 BST Organization: ntl Cablemodem News Service Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:40284 Date: 2003-07-15T00:32:27+01:00 List-Id: Hyman Rosen wrote: > As I have said before, one of the most fundamental mistakes made by > academics who get involved in computing is to forget that programming > languages are a means of instructing a computer to accomplish a task, > not a reification of some abstract concept whose beauty and purity > must be preserved at all costs. Absolutely. I dabble in a fair few languages, and although I really like functional languages some of the current languages make some things which are largely trivial in imperative languages rather difficult or advanced. IO is a good example. Functional languages like Erlang, which grow in industry seem to be more keen to make a sacrifice in purity if it makes things a bit more convienant, in comparison to others with a largely academic development like Haskell. Chris