🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <2570@enea.se> sommar@enea.UUCP(Erland Sommarskog) writes:
>Douglas M. Pase (pase@ogcvax.UUCP) writes:
>>Erland Sommarskog (sommar@enea.UUCP) writes:
>>>Why I find C archaic? Let me just say I think that a good language
>>>should save you many mistakes as early as possible.

     One quick comment on this -> I feel that a professional should be provided
professional level tools.  Pascal was fine for school, but not for gettting real
work done.  Besides, use lint!

    [lots of discussion on why Doug likes C and Erland does not]

>This, I'd say, is an really old-fashioned argument. In these days
>when hardware is cheaper than software
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>I work as a consultant and there seems to be many customers
>that have decided to use C in all their further development and may be
>even will convert old code. Why? I don't know their motives, but I can
>guess. 

     You answered your own question, not only in the text that I deleted
but also earlier in your article (see above).  Why do we still see people
tied to the same hardware for years and years?  Because it would be too
expensive to port the code to another platform.  There are enough COBOL
applications out there to keep maintenance programmers employed for decades
to come.  That is until IBM discontinues those mainframes and forces their
customers to another architecture with another OS and another new language.


     I have seen projects shift hardware in mid-development.  Why?  Because C
was the implementation language and the code was written with portability in 
mind.  One can easily upgrade to newer hardware technology with little change
to the existing investment in software.  What other language is available on
everything from a PC up to a Cray?  Which languages and operating systems are
being moved onto newer architectures?  C may not be the latest in language 
technology, but that is not what the commercial world wants.  They want to get 
the job done and not have to throw resources at constantly reworking things.  
Why do you think there is so much interest in programmer productivity and 
software reuse?  I think that C (and UNIX) has shown the world the value of 
hard ware independence.  The companies who have interests in proprietary systems
do not like this, but it is too late to stop the ball from rolling.  The 
computer industry has seen the leverage that a non-proprietary, machine 
independent system can provide.  UNIX and C are responsible.  Future OS and 
programming language designers must build upon this foundation in the future.  
There is no turning back now.



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