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- Path: osiris.ivy-ops.orbis.net!NewsWatcher!user
- From: kempkec@multiad.com (Christopher Kempke)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: Why C++/G++/?++
- Date: 24 Jan 1996 20:32:15 GMT
- Organization: Multi-Ad Services, Inc.
- Message-ID: <kempkec-2401961430530001@205.164.77.10>
- References: <DLFosu.F6s@Federal.Unisys.COM> <4e5ri2$78h@news.cis.nctu.edu.tw>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: 205.164.77.10
-
- In article <DLFosu.F6s@Federal.Unisys.COM>, fergusoc says...
- >
- >I am not trying to start a flame war so please don't but I must wonder outloud
- >why one would choose C++ over something like Ada95? It sure as heck isn't
- >because C++ is more mature. Hell, its changing (or has done so
- > historically) at Stroustroupe's whim.
-
- [lots of ADA benefits deleted]
-
- These arguments go on forever. Every language has it's strong points; I
- even hear people defend COBOL from time to time. People are rarely
- willing to go to the effort to learn a new language, especially when
- their current one serves their needs reasonably well. Psychologically,
- you don't want to think "gosh, I'm lazy," so you (usually unconsciously)
- start magnifying the flaws of the "opposing" language, or convince yourself
- that the benefits of the language aren't important.
-
- Replace "language" with "Operating System", "Word Processor", or even
- "Political Belief" and you can auto-generate 96.3% of all usenet traffic.
-
- C++ is usually chosen because it's reasonably standard. It's neither the
- best nor the worst of languages, it's reasonably efficient, reasonably
- object-oriented, and reasonably general-purpose, though it excels at none
- of those things.
-
- My personal belief? C++ is the language of choice precisely because of
- the arguments in my first paragraph - people didn't need to give up their
- "C" knowledge when it appeared. Many people even consider C and C++ to be
- minor variations of the same language (an argument not entirely without
- merit depending on your OOP usage). It had built-in popularity because in
- a sense people already knew it.
-
- To answer the ADA question, I would guess it's mainly a matter of ADA's
- extreme complexity, in terms of learning curve, operating system support,
- and compiler creation. There are (to my knowledge) relatively few Ada
- compilers around,
- and hence not much interest in the non-DOD world. For many programs, Ada would
- be superior to C++ (as would Dylan, SmallTalk, Lisp, FORTRAN, BASIC, ..., ...
- depending on the problem at hand), but you can't expect everyone to learn
- everything, and C++ has the popularity
- at the moment.
-