Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c++:8507 comp.software-eng:3947
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!abvax!iccgcc!klimas
From: klimas@astro.pc.ab.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Project experience with C++
Message-ID: <222.26a42b7d@astro.pc.ab.com>
Date: 18 Jul 90 14:27:25 GMT
References: <812@agcsun.UUCP>
Lines: 31

In article <812@agcsun.UUCP>, marks@agcsun.UUCP (Mark Shepherd) writes:
> I would like to find out if anyone out there has real-life, long-term
> experience with a substantial (tens/hundreds K lines of code) project 
> written in C++. Here are some things I'd like to know:
> 
>   - how long does it take an C or Pascal programmer to learn and
>     become productive in object-oriented design and programming
>   - how long does it take to develop something in C++ compared to C
>   - how good is the long-term extendability, reliability, maintainability
>     of object-oriented designs/implementations
>   - what are the pros/cons of doing a project in C++ rather than C
>   - what are the pitfalls of doing something in C++
>   - is C++ particularly well suited (or badly suited) to 
>     - graphic user interfaces (X/Motif)
>     - real time device control
>  
> I am already a big fan of object-oriented analysis, design, and 
> implementation, and have used C++ and Smalltalk for numerous small 
> (1-person) projects, but I don't yet have a feel for how well a large 
> project in C++ works, or whether the theoretical benefits - reusability,
> modularity, loose-coupling, data hiding, and so on - actually materialize
> in practice.
	I think that there is a rather unanimous opinion that C++ is a better
	C in many ways, most noteably through better modularity of code. 
	However there are a number of myths and unrealistic expectations that
	are being foisted upon C++ for code reuse, productivity, and quality.
	I believe that there are a number of excellent companies involved
	in the OOP field that have documented these issues at various OOPSLA
	sessions.  I would suggest getting a hold of someone from one of these
	companies or look through previous copies of the Journal of Object
	Oriented Programming for some insights.