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- Path: news.mindlink.net!news
- From: genew@mindlink.bc.ca (Gene Wirchenko)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: C/C++ knocks the crap out of Ada
- Date: Fri, 09 Feb 1996 00:36:37 GMT
- Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
- Message-ID: <4fe52i$abc@fountain.mindlink.net>
- References: <00001a73+00002504@msn.com> <4etcmm$lpd@nova.dimensional.com> <BYERLY_J.96Feb7170158@srm9.motsat.sat.mot.com> <4fc0ff$ipd@goanna.cs.rmit.EDU.AU>
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- ok@goanna.cs.rmit.EDU.AU (Richard A. O'Keefe) wrote:
-
- [snip]
-
- >Books. Sigh. It's not the QUANTITY that counts, it's the QUALITY.
-
- >I taught C for a while, so I got to see a lot of C textbooks.
- >There are a few that get the language right: K&RII and H&S4 and P&B.
-
- What is P&B, please?
-
- [snip]
-
- >The very best textbook about programming in C that I have ever seen is
- >M&Q, but there was roughly one factual error per 10 pages, and I repeat
-
- What is M&Q, please?
-
- >that that's the BEST I've seen. The data structures books include one
- >written by some very experienced programmers, where page 6 said they
- >followed the standard but facing on page 7 was a violation, and one of
- >the techniques presented _cannot_ be used in C (because there are no
- >nested functions).
-
- [snip]
-
- >[Want a textbook reviewed? Get your publisher to send THE MANUSCRIPT to
- >me so that I can find the mistakes before your readers do!]
-
- You might have to compete with Peter Seebach for the contract
- <g>.
-
- [snip]
-
- >The number of articles posted doesn't indicate INTEREST but PROBLEMS.
-
- They indicate interest, problems, and lots of other things
- including how many spammers decided to get started recently and
- whether the group has come to the attention of Colin James III
- (January 1996 USENET Kook of the Month). Sadly, comp.lang.c has.
-
- >Articles posted to comp.lang.c can be divided into two major groups:
- >cries for help and wrong answers. (That's why I stopped reading it
- >and only read comp.lang.c.moderated now.)
-
- Let us not forget the correct answers.
-
- >I just checked the number of comp.lang.* articles currently at my site.
-
- [snip]
-
- How long are all these kept? If one is kept longer than another,
- the comparison is invalid.
-
- >I note that java is nearly as "popular" by this criterion as C and C++ put
- >together. Maybe we should all drop C and C++ in favour of Java? (That
- >mightn't be a bad idea at that.) Yet there are very very few Java books.
- >The number for Dylan exceeds the number for Prolog, yet I happen to know
- >that vastly more Prolog systems have been shipped than Dylan ones, and
- >there are no Dylan books other than the reference manual that I know of.
-
- >Does the large number of postings in comp.lang.perl.* (very close behind
- >C) reflect intense interest in perl, or great difficulty with it, or, more
- >likely, both?
-
- There are lies, damned lies, and statistics!
-
- >Away with popularity contests! Larry Wall and Randal Schwartz won't give
-
- Right!
-
- [snip]
-
- >>> The FAQ for comp.lang.ada has set a new, all time low standard for
- >>> censorship where it suggests kill-filling the name of an outspoken Ada
- >>> critic (the instant writer); hence the Ada community is so insecure,
- >>> defensive, and intellectually dishonest that they promote cutting off
- >>> the tongue of the critic -- now that's a laugh riot.
-
- >I'm sorry, I don't see the censorship. There is someone whose postings
-
- Of course not. You are replying to Colin James III. Remember
- the name from earlier in this post?
-
- [snip]
-
- >Richard A. O'Keefe; http://www.cs.rmit.edu.au/~ok; RMIT Comp.Sci.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Gene Wirchenko
-
- C Pronunciation Guide:
- y=x++; "wye equals ex plus plus semicolon"
- x=x++; "ex equals ex doublecross semicolon"
-
-