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: 103376,54889de51045a215 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-15 21:04:10 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: 18k11tm001@sneakemail.com (Russ) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: += in ada Date: 15 Oct 2003 21:04:10 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: References: <3F7316F7.219F@mail.ru> <49cbf610.0310070205.2937e71a@posting.google.com> <49cbf610.0310101231.2358762a@posting.google.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 1066277050 18104 127.0.0.1 (16 Oct 2003 04:04:10 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 04:04:10 +0000 (UTC) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:941 Date: 2003-10-15T21:04:10-07:00 List-Id: Georg Bauhaus wrote in message news:... > Russ <18k11tm001@sneakemail.com> wrote: > :> > > On 2003-10-07, Russ <18k11tm001@sneakemail.com> wrote: > :> > > > Repeat after me: Augmented assignment is available and WIDELY USED in > :> > > > C, C++, Java, Perl, and Python, perhaps the 5 most popular > :> > > > general-purpose programming languages ever designed. > Interesting. So programming languages are obviously chosen because > there is some form of augmented assinment in the language? > Why do people choose Visual Basic, or Fortran, or Delphi? No, that's not what I said. What I am suggesting is that some programmers might be turned off by a programming language that does not provide augmented assignment operators. Suppose you were out shopping for a new car. Would you say to yourself, "I will only consider cars that are equipped with visors." Of course not, because you expect all cars to have visors by now. Now suppose you are test driving a car. You pull out of the driveway, and the sun hits your eyes and blinds you. You reach for the visor, but none is available. "WTF?", you say, "No friggin' visor? So the salesman in the passenger seat says, "You don't *need* a visor. All you have to do is put your hand in front of your eyes. What the heck is so hard about that? Oh, and if that is too much for you, you lazy bum, you can use some duct tape and cardboard to make your own visor. There's nothing to it" Would you buy the car? I doubt it. So it is with augmented assignment operators (or whatever you want to call them). They are a basic convenience that a modern general-purpose programming language is simply expected to have. As for Visual Basic, yes it is popular, but I hope you aren't suggesting that it is a good model for programming languages. I suspect that most VB programmers are clueless about the alternatives (and also think Linux is too complicated to use).