Re: Clause "with and use"

[18k11tm001@sneakemail.com (Russ)]

"Stephane Richard" <stephane.richard@verizon.net> wrote in message news:<hcotb.24224$hB5.13577@nwrdny02.gnilink.net>...

> *** Ada is not like C++.  And he seems to be convinced that C++'s semantics
> and syntax is what made it popular.  The first thing that made C/C++ ever
> worth looking at is that it was free with UNIX (Sure Unix wasn't free, but
> C++ was included, just as Basic was included with DOS). So All Unix, Mimix,
> and the rest of the gang users woudl go the C way, and DOS users went the
> BASIC way because it was included with the OS.

No, I am not "convinced that C++'s semantics and syntax is what made
it popular." I've made this abundantly clear in the past, but let me
clarify it again. What I *am* convinced of is that C++'s syntax did
not stand in its way of gaining popularity. Like the vast majority of
the other popular languages around today, C++ has a "standard"
assignment operator, for example. And like C, Java, Perl, and Python,
it has augmented assignment operators.

As fundamentally sound as Ada is, it is cursed with a non-standard
assignment operator, a lack of augmented assignment operators, and
unnecessary clutter at the beginning of many files. It's like a good
woman who is cursed with warts on her face. Just think of me as a
caring friend who is suggesting that the warts be removed as much as
possible. Don't take it as an insult. And please, don't tell me that I
think some other woman is popular *only* because she doesn't have
warts on her face.

> *** My take on this is that if Ada would have been bundled with Unix instead
> of C, well C wouldn't be what it is today.  First people used C because it
> was freely available, the other people used C because it was being used by
> others, that's how I explain my "monkey see monkey do" theory.  Last time I
> didn't mention C being freely available to start the big wheel turning,
> Marin put me back on track with this ;-), it was the first reason.

The fact that Unix and its progeny were and are written in C, and C
was bundled for free, was certainly an important factor. That is
undeniable. But that doesn't explain the popularity of C for three
decades, and its continued popularity for Linux and many of its
applications. It certainly could have been supplanted somewhere along
the way if it really rubbed developers wrong. Apparently it didn't.
I'm not sure that would have been true for Ada.