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,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f51e93dacd9c7fca X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-06-20 16:22:44 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: 18k11tm001@sneakemail.com (Russ) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: status of Ada STL? Date: 20 Jun 2002 16:22:43 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Message-ID: References: <3D0D18D5.2020601@telepath.com> <4519e058.0206170611.260a3951@posting.google.com> <4519e058.0206180630.b6ef8cd@posting.google.com> <4519e058.0206190635.48fe03a5@posting.google.com> <3D11C9ED.4010709@telepath.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.194.87.148 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1024615364 25424 127.0.0.1 (20 Jun 2002 23:22:44 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 20 Jun 2002 23:22:44 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:26528 Date: 2002-06-20T23:22:44+00:00 List-Id: Ted Dennison wrote in message news:<3D11C9ED.4010709@telepath.com>... > Russ wrote: > > You have a lots of knifty tricks, don't you. By talking about > > The truth is often inconvienent, isn't it? Yes it is, as you are about to find out. > > "software in use", you can pretend that dying languages are still > > thriving. By the same trick, I suppose I could tell my boss that I > > In what way is Cobol "dying"? Last I heard, there was more new Cobol > being written every year that there probabaly is Python code in existence. Interesting. I did a little web search, and I discovered, to my amazement, that Cobol is indeed still thriving. You were right about that. But I also did a little check on Cobol syntax, and I found that it actually uses "=" for assignment (in its "COMPUTE" statement). So thanks for solidifying my argument. You're wrong on the main point even though you're right on a subordinate point. Let's see, what are the most widely used languages today? How about Cobol, C, C++, Java, Fortran, Perl, and Ada. And lo and behold, every one of them except Ada uses "=" for assignment (come to think of it, doesn't BASIC use "=" too?). Somebody ought to do a study. It seems that you can almost predict the popularity of a language based on whether or not it uses "=" for assignment. It seems that all the major languages use "=", and all the minor languages use something else. Consider the four major scripting languages: Basic, Perl, Python, and Tcl/Tk. I haven't checked on Basic, but I think it uses "=" for assignment, as do Perl and Python. They are all wildly popular, with Python growing radidly. Tcl was once consider a rising star, but now it seems to be fading away (though it still has a devoted group of core users). I personally happen to be a good Tcl programmer and I think it is the best language around for straight GUIs, so I am certainly not biased against it. But guess what? Tcl does not use "=" for assignment, and it is dwindling in popularity. Coincidence? You decide.