Re: Ada and C++: A request for comparison/contrast/relative benefits

[news.crd.ge.com!e7sa!groleau@uunet.uu.net (Wes Groleau x1240 C73-8)]

In article <1993Aug18.224236.24517@source.asset.com> vand@source.asset.com (Lau
rence VanDolsen) writes:
>In article <1385@fedfil.UUCP> news@fedfil.UUCP (news) writes:
>>I suppose I'm supposed to believe that Hoare became more intelligent after
>>the original paper was presented.  I assume he was of middle age in 1980;  
>>people don't generally get more intelligent after about 40.
>>
>Oh PLEASE!!!!  Intelligence, the ability to learn and to apply learned
>information, is generally considered to be a constant for each
>individual and to be independent of that person's age, exceptions are
>associated with certain diseases and traumas.  
>
>There are, of course, individuals who wilfully stop learning, even
>though they retain the ability.

You suppose one of these has initials TH ?

>With respect to Mr. Hoare, it is reasonable to assume that he learned
>more about Ada between his earlier and later assertions.  .....

Especially since in 1980 when the comment was allegedly made, Ada didn't
really exist.  Several changes were made between then and the LRM-83.
(For example, "assert" is no longer a reserved word.)

Also, receiving a Turing award doesn't make a person infallible.
C.A.R. Hoare also once said (paraphrase; someone please post the exact 
quote):  One of the worst things that ever happened to our profession was
the invention of symbolic debuggers, cross-reference tools, strong typing, etc.
because we let the tools find our errors instead of "doing it right the first
time"  There is SOME truth to this, but most of us feel it's better to have
a tool find all ten errors in a few minutes than to spend hours finding
nine of them by eyeball.

------------------

For some time, the name of a certain individual has been in my killfile.
This was a person I agreed with--I just don't have the time to read his
long-winded "preaching to the choir"  Now I have the privilege of adding
someone I DON'T agree with (TH).