Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uupsi!sunic!dkuug!iesd!iesd.auc.dk!fischer From: fischer@iesd.auc.dk (Lars P. Fischer) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: ADA/C Flame wars Message-ID: Date: 26 Mar 90 20:50:12 GMT References: <3010.260C8D7E@puddle.fidonet.org> <1990Mar26.184417.25844@diku.dk> Sender: news@iesd.auc.dk (UseNet News) Organization: Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Aalborg Lines: 25 In-reply-to: jensting@skinfaxe.diku.dk's message of 26 Mar 90 18:44:17 GMT In article <1990Mar26.184417.25844@diku.dk> jensting@skinfaxe.diku.dk (Jens Tingleff) writes: >... You try writing to a file, a screen, a piece of paper >without any variable-alteration, and be sure to post an article >about it ... Too late, I'm afraid. The trick is called Lazy Evaluation. Check out Miranda(TM), Haskell, and others. In fact, lazy lists are all you need. The point is that C is powerful, fast, and dangerous, while functional languages are even more powerful, slow, and safe. Make your choice. Ada pretends to be powerful, fast, and safe, but really is weak, slow, and dangerous (1/2 :-). The ideal would be to have a language that allowed for an easy way to prove correctness, with the assistance of "proof checkers" and so on, while still providing the speed and control of C. Alas, we don't have that (yet). /Lars (In case you're interested in lazy evaluation, check out Turners articles on Miranda and KRC). -- Lars Fischer, fischer@iesd.auc.dk | The difference between genius and CS Dept., Univ. of Aalborg, DENMARK. | idiocy is that genius has its limits.