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- Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++
- Path: netcom.com!adaworks
- From: adaworks@netcom.com (AdaWorks)
- Subject: Re: C/C++ knocks the crap out of Ada
- Message-ID: <adaworksDnrrpt.pJ@netcom.com>
- Followup-To: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++
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- References: <JSA.96Feb16135027@organon.com> <dewar.825640041@schonberg> <4h7i55INNknq@anvil.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca> <dewar.825776000@schonberg> <4hdt1tINN44i@keats.ugrad.cs.ubc.ca>
- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 00:51:29 GMT
- Sender: adaworks@netcom19.netcom.com
-
- Kazimir Kylheku (c2a192@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca) wrote:
- : In article <dewar.825776000@schonberg>, Robert Dewar <dewar@cs.nyu.edu> wrote:
- : >Kazimir says
- : >
- : > Standardization notwithstanding, any language will allow you to write
- : > errnoeous programs, whose outcome could have dire consequences. I can
- : > write in Ada a function that computes something other than what I
- : > intend it to compute, as I can in C.
-
- : ... some military fruitcake who cringes at the sight of a curly brace.
- : --
-
- I hope my reply is correctly addressed.
-
- May I repeat one of my earlier assertions regarding Ada?
-
- Each programming languages is designed with different goals. An important
- goal of Ada is for the compiler to catch as many errors as possible. A
- second goal is for the run-time to detect errors in a way that they can
- be handled by previously coded Ada statements. The language is designed
- to maximize both goals.
-
- Many programmers get annoyed by the attempt by the Ada compiler to
- accomplish its goals. So be it.
-
- Some languages are designed so the programmer can lay-down code very
- quickly and worry about "debugging" it later. This is not evil, but
- it is does not conform to the same goal as established for Ada.
-
- If you want a compiler that maximizes compile-time error checking, use
- Ada. If this is not important to you, use something else.
-
- Contrary to the somewhat combustible comment at the end of the previous
- author's article, no one is cringing at the site of a curly-brace. If
- C or C++ supported the goals of Ada, there would be no need for Ada.
- Unfortunately, they fall a little short.
-
- Skilled C/C++ programmers can certainly write better code than unskilled
- Ada programmers. But even skilled Ada programmers expect a little more
- help from their Ada compiler than a C programmer might expect from a
- C compiler.
-
- Richard Riehle
- adaworks@netcom.com
-
-
- --
-
- richard@adaworks.com
- AdaWorks Software Engineering
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