Re: Ada Generic vs. C++ Templates

[Colin_Paul_Gloster@ACM.org (Colin Paul Gloster)]

In article <qODB6.91$ow5.12326@nnrp1.sbc.net>, Pat Rogers wrote:
""Simon Wright" <simon@pushface.org> wrote in message
news:x7v66gdw82g.fsf@smaug.pushface.org...
> Colin_Paul_Gloster@ACM.org (Colin Paul Gloster) writes:
>
> > [..] The Booch Components [..]
> > [..] Pre-Ada 95 it was written on page 192 of "The
> > Design and Evolution of C++" [1] by Bjarne Stroustrup:
> > "[..Grady Booch implemented the Ada [83] version of The Booch Components
> > and he and Mike Vilot later implemented the C++ [of the time] version of
> > The Booch Components. The Ada [83] version] is 125,000 [since you
> > probably speak German I point out that 125,000 in English is equal to one
> > hundred and twentyfive thousand (big); not one hundrend and twentyfive
> > (small)] non-commented source lines compared to the C++ version's 10,000
> > [10000 not 10] lines - inheritance combined with templates can be a very
> > powerful mechanism for organising libraries without loss of performance
> > or clarity", referencing the second edition of "Object-oriented Analysis
> > and Design with Applications" by Grady Booch.
>
> The C++ BCs I was given a copy of when I started maintaining the Ada95
> port have 29_000 non-comment source lines. The Ada95 port has 13_000
> non-comment source lines.

Another point is that the Booch C++ design for the components is very --
repeat very -- different from the Ada design, so comparing sizes is
difficult.  It is not a matter of inheritance.  There is in fact a lot of
replication in the first design that he realized he could avoid, which has
absolutely nothing at all to do with the language chosen.  It is a matter of
the second design benefiting from the first.

Second, there is little inheritance in the C++ version.  It is not the
central design approach, as it would be in say Java or Eiffel.  No one
should conclude that inheritance is the central reason for the difference in
size."

It is peculiar that Bjarne Stroustrup said that the C++ version had 10 000
(non-comment?) source lines but Simon Wright has instead found nearly triple
that excluding comments. The paper quoted from by Mike Vilot and Grady
Booch did not give their sizes. Any one know what is going on?