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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1014db,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: f5d71,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gidf5d71,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-02-06 13:33:18 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!newsfeed.wirehub.nl!transit.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail From: Martijn Lievaart Organization: TINO Subject: Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 22:25:50 +0100 User-Agent: Pan/0.14.2 (This is not a psychotic episode. It's a cleansing moment of clarity.) Message-ID: Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.java,comp.lang.ada References: <8QNUb.21269$KV5.15480@nwrdny01.gnilink.net> <3wRUb.15405$IF1.15345@nwrdny03.gnilink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit NNTP-Posting-Date: 06 Feb 2004 22:33:17 CET NNTP-Posting-Host: 213.84.252.211 X-Trace: 1076103197 news.xs4all.nl 323 [::ffff:213.84.252.211]:50018 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.c++:17930 comp.lang.c:20786 comp.lang.java:2730 comp.lang.ada:5298 Date: 2004-02-06T22:33:17+01:00 List-Id: On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 14:02:31 -0500, Jeff Schwab wrote: >> You may be trying to be funny, but many would agree with this assessment! > > The first line you clipped specifically says "Not trying to be funny." Obviously there was a certain amount of tongue in cheek, but the point is real enough. I find that different languages fit different needs. The choice of language is often dictated by how much experience one/the team has with languages. I would never choose ada, simply because I don't know it at all. Language comparisons can be valid, but there are surprisingly few people who can say anything solid about that. It quickly degenerates in, well not necessarely a flame war, but some religion is there always. That said, seeing an interesting cross of groups, let me make a bold statement to see if I can sparkle some real discussion, at the risk of starting another hijad: C++ is an accademic experiment which has thought us much about computer languages and has grealy influenced how we think about programming languages today. Unfortunately the experiment has failed, because the language it produced is so full of subteleties one has to be an expert to use it effectively. On the other hand, its one of the best languages around because its multi-paradigm basics make it often a very good solution for the problem at hand. In particular its support for generic programming has advanced the state of programming significantly. To clarify that last remark, there may be languages that do generics better (I don't know them, but they are bound to exist), but those are not mainstream. M4