Re: Object Pascal vs Ada -- which is better for a hobbyist?

[Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid>]

On 13-07-04 17:31 , Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Jul 2013 07:22:52 -0700 (PDT), john@peppermind.com wrote:
> 
>>> tasking is more complicated than in other languages because
>>>
>>>> it is properly defined and not just wrapped around OS threads.
>>>
>>> I second all this, but the last argument is odd. Something well-defined is
>>> more > complicated than something not so well-defined?
>>
>> Isn't that often the case? I didn't want to imply that there is anything
>> wrong with Ada tasking. To paraphrase Einstein: "Everything should be made
>> as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
> 
> This discussion reads strange to me. How can anybody seriously claim that
> beginthread, fork, CreateMutex, WaitForSingleObject, compartments etc stuff
> is simpler than Ada's tasking. Is it a joke?

Complex functionality that is presented as a library with an API often
*looks* simple, because the API documentation seldom bothers to explain
all the concepts, constraints, and pitfalls, so it looks like there is a
ready solution (= a function call) for every need. This means that you
can start coding something quickly, and only discover the problems
later. In contrast, if you try to learn Ada tasking from the Ada RM,
there is a lot of text, with some complex ideas and issues, plus the
flexible syntax that you have master well enough to select the forms you
need. Better in the end, of course.

-- 
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
      .      @       .