🚀 go-pugleaf

Nick Coons wrote:
> 
> Hi Michael!
> 
> > Pascal is far more advanced than basic.
> 
>         That's an opinion, one with which I happen to disagree.
> 
> --
> Nick
> nick.coons@juno.com
> Tempe, AZ  USA

This particular war has made the rounds a few times.  I think the basic
problem comes from different concepts of the word "advanced".

To some "advanced" means having the ability to do most anything the
hardware is capable of without restriction.  When Pascal/C/C++ advocates
claim their language as advanced this definition applies.

To others "advanced" means having the ability to accomplish useful work
with the least amount of manpower investment.  From that viewpoint BASIC
would certainly be more advanced than others.

It really depends on what you mean by the term.  If I'm going to do a
mail list manager or GL program on a PC, dBase or one of its derivatives
is probably the most advanced.  If I'm doing the same application on a
mainframe, COBOL (shudder!) would be more advanced.  If the application
has to do natural language processing, Prolog or Lisp are more advanced.

When you argue over the "best", "most advanced", or "most powerful"
language you're really telling more about yourself and the kinds of
problems you solve than any particular language or platform.

[...And when many days had come to pass the project manager smote the
language bigot with his sword and passed the specification and progress
payment to the hacker who's only devotion was to the deadline :-)]

-- Lou