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From: rfg@NCD.COM (Ron Guilmette)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: A GNU Makefile (was: ... header files **and** inline management)
Message-ID: <4107@lupine.NCD.COM>
Date: 26 Feb 91 01:15:16 GMT
References: <1991Feb11.081550.18057@eua.ericsson.se> <3943@lupine.NCD.COM> <1991Feb18.073640.1335@lth.se>
Organization: Network Computing Devices, Inc., Mt. View, CA
Lines: 47

In article <1991Feb18.073640.1335@lth.se> dag@control.lth.se (Dag Bruck) writes:
>In article <3943@lupine.NCD.COM> rfg@NCD.COM (Ron Guilmette) writes:
>>In article <1991Feb11.081550.18057@eua.ericsson.se> euamts@eua.ericsson.se (Mats Henricson) writes:
>>>The most important thing with a C++ class is its interface to the outside
>>>world, i.e. the header file. That is why I design the header file first,
>>>and then the .cc-file.
>>
>>And you never go back and make any changes to the "interface" part once
>>you have written it for the first time!?!?!?!
>>I'd like to meet you someday.  I've never had the opportunity to meet a
>>"perfect" programmer before!
>>In other words you want the "implementation" part to be automatically
>>derived from the "interface" or "specification" part, eh?
>
>These comments are so stupid that they have to be a deliberate joke.
>Just in case they aren't, allow me to point out that:
>
>1.  If the the design is well-understood and verified, for example by
>implementing a prototype, we can generate header files and stubs from
>the prototype. 

Dag, please take one or two more classes in English.  You twisted around
my statement until you got is completely backwards.  You say that we
can generate the header files (I assume you mean what I call the
"interface" to a C++ "module") in an automated way.  Perhaps that is
true.  I don't know.  But that's got no relationship at all to the point
I was making.  What I said (quoted above) was that it seemed that Mats
was asking for the whole *implementation* part to be generated from just
the *interface* part.

That's is absolutely impossible with current technology.

If you are still having trouble understanding what is meant by the terms
"interface part" and "implementation part" then please send me mail
and I will try to explain these terms to you so that you can understand
them and so that you will understand the meaning of my English sentences.

Please don't feel bad that you are having trouble understanding my use of
clear English. Other recent postings to this newsgroup indicate that
there are also many native speakers who don't seem to be able to
understand plain English either.

-- 

// Ron Guilmette  -  C++ Entomologist
// Internet: rfg@ncd.com      uucp: ...uunet!lupine!rfg
// Motto:  If it sticks, force it.  If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.