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From: "Chad R. Meiners" <crmeiners@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Clause "with and use"
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2003 21:38:25 -0500
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"Russ" <18k11tm001@sneakemail.com> wrote in message
news:bebbba07.0311151636.472a9aa7@posting.google.com...
> Well, which is it? Did C++ benefit from the syntactic similarity to C,
> or didn't it? Did Java benefit from the syntactic similarity to Java,
> or didn't it? If they did, doesn't that mean that syntax does indeed
> have an effect on the popularity of a language?

Both of course.  ;)  CO did not become popular due to its syntax, but once
it had become popular people were accustomed to it which allows languages
with similar syntax to leverage upon its popularity.

> I am going to restate something I have said before regarding the
> negative effect bad syntax can have on the popularity of a language.
> Just because programmers are not explicitly complaining about the
> syntax, that does *not* mean it has no effect on their language
> preferences. The effect may be subconscious, or it may be conscious
> but deliberately concealed for fear of appearing "shallow." Similarly,
> women are much more likely to reject a short man in favor of a tall
> man, even if the tall man is a jerk and the short man is the nicest
> guy around. I could give many other examples, of course.

One should not worry about unobservable events because one cannot knowingly
affect them.