Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!iuvax!copper!raja From: raja@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Raja Sooriamurthi) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: sys & lang standardization? Message-ID: Date: 16 Nov 90 21:09:11 GMT References: <27318@cs.yale.edu> Sender: news@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu Lines: 48 In article hp0p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Hokkun Pang) writes: >I have browsed thru all net.comp.* bboards, this seems more appropriate. >--- > >Will we ever get to the stage that operating system and programming language >are well stablelized(am I dreaming?). It seems to me that every month or so, >there's a new (or major upgrade to an existing) operating system or programming >language. So much energy are wasted (can I say this?) in learning new features >and rewiting old codes. Still an undergrad, I have used the following languages >already: Ada, Assembly, Basic, C, Cobol, Comal, Forth, Fortran, ML, Lisp, ML, >Pascal, Prolog, Scheme. And all of them are still widely used. How many more >do I need to learn? Do we know enough to know which direction(s) to go yet? >How long do we need to wait? > >PS, don't flame me, I'm just an undergrad. Would you be satisfied in still driving a Ford model T? As advances in engine design, aerodynamics, electronics etc came about newer and newer cars were produced; some meant for racing some meant to take the family shopping. So is the case with any other engineering displine inluding programming. People have constantly been finding newer and better techniques to express themselves leading to the myriad languages we have today. I do agree that keeping abreast is difficult but that difficulty shouldn't be a cause to stop this evolutionary process. Coming back to your question, >Will we ever get to the stage that operating system and programming language >are well stablelized(am I dreaming?). I would say no and further add that, that is not a goal we should strive for. International standardisation of established languages is an attempt to control this complexity and that is the proper approach. But trying to 'stabilize' programming languages is an attempt to stifle one's own creativity. - Raja --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Raja Sooriamurthi Computer Science Department raja@copper.ucs.indiana.edu Indiana University ---------------------------------------------------------------------------