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: fac41,2c6139ce13be9980 X-Google-Attributes: gidfac41,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,3d3f20d31be1c33a X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,2c6139ce13be9980 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,2c6139ce13be9980 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public From: mheaney@ni.net (Matthew Heaney) Subject: Re: Interface/Implementation (was Re: Design by Contract) Date: 1997/09/09 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 270924290 References: <340F20A0.49B5@ac3i.dseg.ti.com> <340F39E3.4B71@pseserv3.fw.hac.com> Organization: Estormza Software Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.eiffel Date: 1997-09-09T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , doylep@ecf.toronto.edu (Patrick Doyle) wrote: >>SO the issue with Eiffel is not whether you *could* get the effects, e.g. >>ease of ability to separate spec and body in a CM environment, but whether >>people *in practice* work this way. > >I don't think that's the issue. If Ada people generally use a technique >which is superior to what I do, I'd like to find a way to do it using >Eiffel. I don't care what people to in practice. I'm here to learn >and to hone my own skills. Don't fight the language. Something that's naturally expressable in one language may be quite klunky in another. You have to consider the features of a language in their _totality_. Just because a certain thing may be easier to do in language A than in B, doesn't mean B is a lesser language than A because of it. B may have many other benefits not present in A, and to try to bend B to get that certain thing, you can acually make B worse. A designer or systems theorist will tell you to think holistically, and to not be such a reductionist. If you really want to hone your skills, then immerse yourself in a language that uses a completely different paradigm. Spend a few weeks or months programming in a functional language or a logic language. And you should care what others do "in practice." You don't live on an island, and so you have to work with other programmers. Accept what the standard practice is, because that will make it easier for others to read and understand your code. If you're doing a lot of idiomatic stuff, you're going to be ostracised, even if your intentions are good. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Heaney Software Development Consultant (818) 985-1271