Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!MACALSTR.EDU!SHBOUM From: SHBOUM@MACALSTR.EDU Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Hello and Comments Message-ID: Date: 16 Jan 91 07:40:00 GMT Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 64 On Jan. 13, Doug Gwyn writes: >>>It's not a matter of laziness, but of effective use of one's limited >>>lifespan. When I can produce (AND MAINTAIN, an important point) dozens >>>of applications for use on a wide variety of systems using a HLL in the >>>same time that I could produce fewer, less maintainable applcations on a >>>single platform, what would you think I ought to choose? >> Well are you interested in quality or quantinty? Sure you could write >>lots of programs for lots of computers using C, but would those programs >>really take advantage of that computer's resources? >First of all, if an application does what is wanted, who cares whether >or not it exploits system-specific features that are not needed to get >the job done? Well unfortunatly, this "Well who cares? it works..." attitude exists in the world today, expecially in the business market. For example, many of Cray Computer's best customers buy the new compiler that Cray publishes each year. Cray spends tons of money to develope the optimization routines in the compiler. Yet, because the businesses don't want ANYTHING to change the code, they turn the optimizers OFF because its no longer the "correct code" and they don't want to risk it. Sure the application works, but it is SLOWER... I don't know about you, but I know that speed is an important issue for me and others. Thats why I still like Appleworks over nearly anything the Mac has because for speed, Text stomps GUIs any day. {Within limits} So lets say you port a program over to my computer that doesn't take advantage of my built in Co-Processor thus taking possibly TWICE as long as it should. I think that this is an important issue. Hey it works, but are you happy? NO.... Or another example. Mathematica is a wonderful math program. However, to improve portability much of the output is still done in a text format such as Sin (0) ------- Cos (0) Hey, its the answer, but dude, I've also got a Color Next right here in front of me, and gee I'd really like to have it in nice pretty graphics so that I can print it out and hand it in for class. Sure it works, are you 100% Satisfied??? NO.... The point is that WE the users CARE. If we didn't, we wouldn't have minded that Appleworks GS once took over 7 minutes to load from the disk drive. A basic notion of the human race is to improve... Not to stop and say "well it works..." Hell, we'd still be living in the trees and eating animals raw with that attitude. Because we are paying money for these programs, we want the best program money can buy. So if you come out with a program that does a fair job, well hey, who cares? IT WORKS. Is that it? No!!! People complain and another programmer comes along and says, "HEY, I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT." And writes an improved program. People buy that program and you end up on the short end. And by porting programs though using C or FORTRAN, or whatever, it becomes much more difficult to tailor it for each system. Sure you can make patches to the code, but the amount of information that you have to learn about each system becomes staggering. I'm not against porting programs. Its great for businesses and multi-platform systems, but there are potentially serious drawbacks with it. The most damaging are those who do port with the attitude "Well it works..." because it produces a second rate program... | Hal Bouma | Working on a .sig! | Macalester College | | Mail to SHBOUM@MACALSTR.EDU | | H.BOUMA on GEnie |