Re: scripting/extension language for Ada (was : Re: tagged types extensions)

[Ray Blaak <blaak@infomatch.com>]

"Stanley R. Allen" <Stanley_R_Allen@raytheon.com> writes:
> In our project, scripts have gotten very large and are used for many critical
> capabilities.  Some are thousands of lines long.  We maintain these scripts
> in our CM database just like the Ada, C, and FORTRAN code.  They have long
> life -- over 5 years.  They must be documented because they are updated by
> many hands over a long period of time.  Sound familiar?

Ada seems perfectly fine to me for such scripts -- that is, for real software.
I, however, tend to use scripts for small little jobs that I can put together
quickly.

> I question your criterion for a "good" script language -- "succinct powerful
> notation".  Isn't this what we've come to learn as a receipe for
> incomprehensibility?

Not at all. Succinct does not mean obfuscated or cryptic. I mean an economy of
expression such that things are actually easier to understand since more of the
expression is dedicated to the real solution, rather than setting up an
infrastructure of declarations. 

Essentially this is just programming at a higher level of abstraction.

See my other post in this thread for an example.

In any reasonably sized program, Ada's verbosity is a key feature to aid
maintainability. For small very dedicated programs it can be a real pain.

> I can't comment on scsh, but I've seen enough Perl to know that
> it is a hacker's language front-to-back.

Well, Scheme is generally considered to be a Lisp that is about are "pure" as
one can get. Common Lispers, however, hate it, since they believe 1) it is not
Lisp 2) one cannot do anything real with it, and 3) there is no other language
necessary besides Common Lisp.

Perl programs tend to be written in a hacky way, but fortunately has features
that allow some reasonable semblance of software engineering. One can enable
stricter checking and protection styles to the appropriate level of paranoia,
and make use of packages.  I know I try to write my Perl scripts with good
expressive names and strict checking on. At least Perl has garbage collection
(mostly) and closures.

-- 
Cheers,                                        The Rhythm is around me,
                                               The Rhythm has control.
Ray Blaak                                      The Rhythm is inside me,
blaak@infomatch.com                            The Rhythm has my soul.