From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: Is Ada likely to survive ?
Date: 1997/08/24
Date: 1997-08-24T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <dewar.872433226@merv> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 5td7pt$fuj@saturn.brighton.ac.uk
John says
<<But hell, pick a language you hate (surely you have one? is IPL-V sufficiently
uncontroversial?) and use that instead...>>
I can't follow this advice, why on earth waste hate, or for that matter
love, on any programming language?
In practice, nearly every language has some useful and interesting points
to contribute to the world of language design ideas, and if your "hate"
for a language means that you do not appreciate them, then you probably
are missing something!
(in the case of COBOL, I would say the most important ideas are
scaled decimal arithmetic with specified portable precision, and
completely portable arithmetic semantics.
the hierarchical approach to data layout
lightweight refinement, avoiding the need for heavily nested control
structures.
dynamic binding to subroutines at run time, allowing running systems
to be modified dynamically
integration of high level features like sorting and indexed IO
This is not necessarily a complete list, just the start of one to give
an idea. If you cannot make a similar list for language X, then it is
probably because you do not know language X well enough!
Remember, one of the weakest, and indeed most damaging, forms of advocacy
for any language is making unfounded criticisms of other languages that
you do not know well enough to criticize!
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1997-08-24 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 78+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1997-08-14 0:00 Is Ada likely to survive ? Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96
1997-08-16 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-17 0:00 ` Jerry van Dijk
1997-08-17 0:00 ` No Spam
1997-08-19 0:00 ` John English
1997-08-19 0:00 ` Mike Stark
1997-08-27 0:00 ` Jerry van Dijk
1997-08-19 0:00 ` John English
1997-08-19 0:00 ` John English
1997-08-24 0:00 ` Robert Dewar [this message]
1997-08-26 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1997-08-07 0:00 Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96
1997-08-10 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-11 0:00 ` Richard Kenner
1997-08-11 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-11 0:00 ` John English
1997-08-04 0:00 Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96
1997-08-06 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-06 0:00 ` HARRY R. ERWIN
1997-08-06 0:00 ` rodney
1997-08-10 0:00 ` Fergus Henderson
1997-08-10 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1997-08-11 0:00 ` Jerry van Dijk
[not found] ` <01bca387$42ffbce0$18a9f5cd@asip120>
1997-08-13 0:00 ` Mark A Biggar
1997-08-13 0:00 ` HARRY R. ERWIN
[not found] ` <3404215f.0@news.uni-ulm.de>
1997-08-27 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-18 0:00 safetran
1997-07-18 0:00 ` Stanley Allen
1997-07-19 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-07-21 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-07-28 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-07-29 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-29 0:00 ` dcw
1997-07-30 0:00 ` Steve Jones - JON
1997-07-30 0:00 ` HARRY R. ERWIN
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-31 0:00 ` HARRY R. ERWIN
1997-08-01 0:00 ` William Clodius
[not found] ` <5s6ng4$rq7$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au>
1997-08-07 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-08-11 0:00 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1997-08-11 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-08-01 0:00 ` William Clodius
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-31 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-08-01 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-08-03 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-05 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-07-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-07-20 0:00 ` Paul Van Bellinghen
1997-07-21 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-07-19 0:00 ` robin
1997-07-23 0:00 ` Valerio Bellizzomi
1997-08-01 0:00 ` robin
1997-08-02 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <5s6q6b$f3$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au>
1997-08-09 0:00 ` Ejon
1997-08-10 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-11 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-08-17 0:00 ` robin
1997-08-17 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-22 0:00 ` robin
[not found] ` <5u3c69$5tj$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au>
1997-08-28 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-08-30 0:00 ` robin
1997-09-08 0:00 ` Richard A. O'Keefe
1997-09-17 0:00 ` robin
1997-07-23 0:00 ` Adam Beneschan
1997-07-22 0:00 ` Nasser
1997-07-20 0:00 ` Odo Wolbers
1997-07-21 0:00 ` safetran
1997-07-22 0:00 ` Jon S Anthony
1997-07-22 0:00 ` Nasser
1997-07-23 0:00 ` Jon S Anthony
1997-07-27 0:00 ` jorgie
1997-07-28 0:00 ` Peter Hermann
1997-07-21 0:00 ` Anonymous
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