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- Path: news.bmi.net!news
- From: Frank Skorina <skorina@bmi.net>
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Considering Switch from Smalltalk to C++
- Date: 23 Jan 1996 17:01:33 GMT
- Organization: Blue Mountain Internet
- Message-ID: <4e349d$3ol@bigjohn.bmi.net>
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-
- Hello,
-
- We are considering switching to C++ and abandoning Smalltalk.
-
- We are a group of three who have spent a better part of the year developing a GUI
- that controls real-time hardware. We went to OO as a methodology to develop better
- software. We went to Smalltalk to force us to code in pure OO, thinking that if we
- coded in C++ we would fall back into our C. We have received training and used
- consultants, but the results (our GUI) are only fair.
-
- Our problems are numerous.
-
- 1) Smalltalk is slow. We have optimized screen loading so the GUI response is
- adequate. Using and manipulating images (bitmaps) crawl in our present
- implementation.
-
- 2) Since the application controls hardware, we are forced to write DLLs (in C) to
- interface to the drivers. We have also written DLLs for some image processing and
- other math intensive modules. This has forced us to maintain two environments.
-
- 3) We have been using Smalltalk and PARTS from Digitalk and have found them
- (especially the latter) to contain numerous bugs.
-
- 4) We have difficulty using the Enterprise system, both in managing the code, and
- and navigating through its less than stellar interface. (Network performance is
- not so good either (NT).
-
- 5) The Smalltalk documentation is poor.
-
- 6) Our documentation of what we developed is poor. This is our own fault and the
- cause of some, but not all of our problems.
-
- This post is to solicit opinions on our situation, especially from people who have
- developed applications similar to our own. We would be interested in information
- from those who have made the switch.
-
- Frank Skorina
- skorina@bmi.net
-
-
-