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- Path: fido.asd.sgi.com!austern
- From: Steve Karmesin <ssr@ccsf.caltech.edu>
- Newsgroups: comp.std.c++
- Subject: Re: STL still in standard
- Date: 19 Jan 1996 10:58:09 PST
- Organization: Caltech
- Approved: austern@isolde.mti.sgi.com
- Message-ID: <30FED537.43283C@ccsf.caltech.edu>
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- Originator: austern@isolde.mti.sgi.com
-
- Micha Berger wrote:
- ...snip...
- >
- > I don't like STL because it represents an abandonment of one of C++'s
- > strengths, the tools for implementing an object oriented design.
- >
- > STL just isn't OO. It's the creation of algorythms that are not connected
- > to the data they act upon. That doesn't make STL inherently wrong, but it
- > does seem out of place in light of the number of design decisions made
- > to enable OO.
- ...snip...
-
- First, I will dispute the claim that something like the STL is not OO.
- Second, even if it was not that doesn't make it a bad part of C++.
-
- The fact that the algorithm of the STL aren't tied to particular data
- structures does not mean that it is not OO. A better OO language than C++
- would in fact allow the algorithms themselves to be objects. The fact that
- they are written as templates rather than classes in C++ is because of
- limitations in C++, not limitations in the idea of objects. Object != class.
-
- I would say that the STL is a big help in OO design, even if the algorithms
- aren't considered to be objects themselves.
-
- In any case, C++ is a language for making programs. One of the tools it puts
- in the hands of the programmer is objects and some facilities for doing
- object oriented design.
-
- The goal is not and should not be to build an object oriented language. The
- goal should be to build a language in which people can solve problems. An
- object oriented language and object oriented design are ways to do that, but
- they are not the only ways.
-
- If what you want is a teaching tool or research tool to explore the limits
- of strict object oriented desing, such languages exist but those are not the
- goals of C++.
-
- Steve K
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