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- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.c,comp.object,comp.software-eng
- Path: assip.csasyd!news
- From: donh@syd.csa.com.au (Don Harrison)
- Subject: Re: Portability of code & skills (Beware of "C" Hackers etc)
- Message-ID: <DoG3HE.48E@assip.csasyd.oz>
- Sender: news@assip.csasyd.oz
- Reply-To: donh@syd.csa.com.au
- Organization: CSC Australia
- References: <31494D29.4D4B@dmu.ac.uk>
- Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 04:08:01 GMT
-
- Graham Perkins writes:
-
- :Too much stuff on the endless looping of "Beware of "C" Hackers..."
- :thread so I'll try and split it. Or should we "fray" a thread?
-
- Nice extension of the metaphor. 'Fraying' is a good description of the course of
- Usenet discussions :-).
-
- [...]
-
- ... So if you want your new language to be a success,
- :then give it away for ten years, preferably with a free O.S. and all source
- :code as well. It's difficult to see many other reasons for widespread
- :adoption of C and Unix.
-
- Aside from the historical argument, could another reason be that people
- love power and permissive languages such as C give such power? The trouble
- is, of course, that most people don't handle power responsibly because we
- are selfish by nature. Our short-sighted selfishness is manifested in
- programming as hacking.
-
- The trick is to offer flexibility while maintaining safety (as in Eiffel).
- Eiffel itself doesn't afford much opportunity for hacking - you have to
- disappear into external C routines for that!
-
- :However, if C really is as portable as some seem to be saying, then it
- :can be used as a universal assembler language enabling other systems to
- :be portable. This does not seem to have happened, and I don't understand
- :why.
-
- Someone else already pointed out that Eiffel uses it as such. Maybe, a better
- (not yet invented) universal assembly language is needed - something that is
- basic and flexible, yet offers a measure of safety. Does Modula-2 fit the bill?
-
- [...]
-
- :person: Graham Perkins paper: School of Computing
- :voice: +44 (0)1908 834936 De Montfort University
- :dots: +44 (0)1908 834948 Milton Keynes MK7 6HP
- :bits: grp@dmu.ac.uk United Kingdom
-
- Don.
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