🚀 go-pugleaf

On 09.04.1996 [20:19:38] [73627.2516@compuserve.com (Andrew T. Finnell)] wrote the following lines about
"! Read me and State your opinion."

AF>  Hello all fellow C/C++ programmers.

AF>     I'd like your opinion on a subject. I recently had a 
AF> argument with one of my friends and he says that C sucks and 
AF> people shouldn't be programming in it and it's more of a hassel to 
AF> program in. He also says that some better language will come out, 
AF> not a add on like C to C++. I think he's full of it so does my 
AF> dad. Yes I'm only 15. I am a pretty good programmer if I do say so 
AF> myself. But my friend says it's to hard to learn and doesn't serve 
AF> the purpose it's supposed too. As in the transportable code. He 

When I had been 15, my opinion was very similar to yours.
It's always the same, regardless whether it's about hardware,
operating systems, programming languages or whatever else - never judge
without considerable practical experience with alternatives.
Now that I have had opportunity to work with quite some rather "exotic"
languages (from the viewpoint of a C programmer), my opinion has
completely changed.

C certainly does play a very important role, no one can neglect this; so
does C++ - with increasing impact.
Though they have their strengths, both languages have some serious
weaknesses so that I never would consider to use them for certain
applications. Remember for example that there is virtually no support
for recursive data structures. (As one would expect for a rather
"low-level" language.)
C/C++ also are full of tripwires; there is no standard size of int's,
"integral promotions" can easily become very nasty, etc. Come on, there
are FIFTEEN(!) different operator priorities you have to LEARN, because
often they are not what you'd suspect. ("if(x & 0xff ==0xc0)"...)

Let's have a look at C++ exception handling for a moment: this "lately"
introduced and extremely useful feature comes from a language of a
completely different type. What do we learn from that?

AF> says there's not enough standard librarys as in Text output and 
AF> graphics. I told him that that's why it is called a low-level 

OS libraries are of secondary interest when it's about the language.

AF>     I think that C/C++ won't be replace but "upgraded". I 
AF> don't know how I can explain to him that C is the language to make 
AF> programs. Also my friends brother is the main reason I wrote this. 

True for some special kinds of programs, but certainly not for all.

AF> He doesn't want to learn C because he thinks it will be replaced 
AF> and he'll just have to learn a new language. 

Such an attitude will never carry you very far. Those who are
willing and able to adapt to a big variety of situations usually do best.

AF>     Now I think C is awesome and most versitle. I love 

I'll give you a short sample code in SML. Tell me how many lines of
C-code it would be worth. (And how difficult it would be to prove its
correctness)

datatype TERM = num of real
              | sum of TERM*TERM
              | prod of TERM*TERM
              | diff of TERM*TERM
              | quot of TERM*TERM;

fun eval (num(x)) = x
  | eval (sum(a,b)) = eval a + eval b
  | eval (prod(a,b)) = eval a * eval b
  | eval (diff(a,b)) = eval a - eval b
  | eval (quot(a,b)) = eval a / eval b;

Example:

- val term1= prod(sum(num(1.0),num(2.8)),diff(num(2.0),num(3.6)));
> val term1 = prod (sum (num 1.0,num 2.8),diff (num 2.0,num 3.6)) : TERM
- eval term1;
> ~6.0800000000000001 : real


--
regards,         Thomas Fischbacher - dexam@another.gun.de
                                      fischbac@informatik.tu-muenchen.de

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