home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
ftp.cs.arizona.edu
/
ftp.cs.arizona.edu.tar
/
ftp.cs.arizona.edu
/
icon
/
newsgrp
/
group97b.txt
/
000036_icon-group-sender _Wed Jul 23 16:55:00 1997.msg
< prev
next >
Wrap
Internet Message Format
|
2000-09-20
|
4KB
Received: from kingfisher.CS.Arizona.EDU by cheltenham.cs.arizona.edu; Thu, 24 Jul 1997 08:13:01 MST
Received: by kingfisher.CS.Arizona.EDU (5.65v4.0/1.1.8.2/08Nov94-0446PM)
id AA09197; Thu, 24 Jul 1997 08:13:00 -0700
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 16:55:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tom Mitchell <mitch@roll.csd.sgi.com>
To: icon-group@cs.arizona.edu
Subject: Re: perl vs python vs icon
In-Reply-To: <5r0pef$l6c@hermes.synopsys.com>
Message-Id: <Pine.SGI.3.94.970723163832.15305J-100000@roll.csd.sgi.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Errors-To: icon-group-errors@cs.arizona.edu
Status: RO
shamim @ synopsys.com said something interesting.
He used the words "better system" .....
Of interest is that Icon as a language has wonderful
functions and features. Generators are a marvel....
Still more is needed than a Language -- a system. This is what
got in the way of Modula II. There was no 'blessed' I/O library
in the package that was the language. Niklaus Wirth was asked to
bless a number of library packages but elected to not and a very
strong language lost momentum. This is also one of the things
that made "C" a contendor.
As a scripting language Icon also is lacking in a foundation of
library support ... from I/O to sockets, TCP/UDP/IP, signals, reg
expressions.....
This is why perl has so many friends. The basic perl package
does all the stuff language designers leave for library
designers.
Thus a designed library package for Icon is needed or it is
simply an exploration of language design.
On 21 Jul 1997 shamim@nospam.com wrote:
> Date: 21 Jul 1997 22:56:15 GMT
> From: shamim@nospam.com
> To: icon-group@cs.arizona.edu
> Subject: Re: perl vs python vs icon
>
> In article <5qv1l9$eit$1@newshost.nmt.edu>, John Shipman <john@nmt.edu> wrote:
>
> >See this URL for brief comparisons of Python vs. Perl and Icon:
> >
> > http://www.nmt.edu/tcc/help/lang/python/why.html
>
> I'd like to point out that this point _con_ Icon is no longer valid:
>
> > Python interfaces already exist to a wide variety of systems programming
> > facilities (such as directories and TCP/IP sockets), databases, other
> > languages, and much more.
>
> I have added POSIX calls to Icon (reading directories, TCP/UDP/IP, signals,
> dbm routines, etc.). For more details:
>
> http://www.crl.com/~spm/unicon/
>
> I've tested it on SunOS4.1.3, Solaris 2.4 and 2.5, HP-UX versions 9.05 and
> 10.20, and Linux 2.x. Source patches and binaries are available.
>
> My opinion is that Icon with the POSIX features is (for the most part) a
> better language for scripts, CGI programs etc. than Perl. Perl still handles
> regular expressions more conveniently than Icon does; and Perl comes with a
> debugger. Other than these two points, Icon is a better system than
> Perl. IMHO, of course.
>
> This point:
> > Python has a lot more momentum and a much larger and more vigorous user
> > community.
>
> Alas, a self-perpetuating property... what we need is an O'Reilly book on
> Icon, that seems to be what does the trick!
>
> -s
>
> Shamim Mohamed
> shamim @ synopsys.com
> Shamim Mohamed <shamim@synopsys.com>
> A2-1 Synopsys Inc., 700 E Middlefield Rd., Mountain View, CA 94043-4033
> --
> Shamim Mohamed <shamim@synopsys.com>
> A2-1 Synopsys Inc., 700 E Middlefield Rd., Mountain View, CA 94043-4033
>
--
Tom Mitchell - mitch@sgi.com, mitch@relay.csd.sgi.com, mitch@acm.org
Count down to sabbatical is less than 3 weeks.
sabbatical begins Aug 9th.