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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,91c7c63c23ef2d0c X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) Subject: Re: Beware: Rep spec on an enumeration type ... Date: 1997/12/16 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 298597760 References: X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.nyu.edu X-Trace: news.nyu.edu 882249218 7794 (None) 128.122.140.58 Organization: New York University Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-12-16T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Joe says <> There is no such thing as a language simple enough for people who don't know what they are doing to handle. Actually, simplicity is a tricky thing. If you go for a simple language, i.e. one with few features, then you may find that you have to fiddle to do straightforward things. For example, if you need exceptions, which would you prefer, the structured features of Ada exceptions, or messing with setjmp/longjmp? (anyone who thinks that C is immune from complex features whose efficienty depends on the implementation should spend some time studying the various implementations of setjmp/longjmp). Similarly, the advice that successful projects need close cooperation between domain experts, and people who understand the tools, and details of basic computer science, applies regardless of the language being used. I have seen complete chaos created by people who know the problem area but do not have the necessary programming skills in Fortran, C, COBOL and virtually all other programming languages. Joe, I still get the feeling that your insistence on the idea that the entire project should be staffed with domain experts, and your dismissal of the suggestion that it would be helpful to have people whose primary expertise was in software engineering, is the crux of your problem. Certainly you are having problems that I do NOT see other groups having, and my analysis is that this is the real source of the problem. You ask above for a "focused effort .. solving the problems ...", but you have in mind that the solution is to build an FAQ which will provide simplistic rules (e.g. "never use formatted IO") that will magically solve your problems. Sorry, I don't think this is feasible!