Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnewsl!cbnewsk!cbnewsk!dwwx From: dwwx@cbnewsk.ATT.COM (david.w.wood) Newsgroups: comp.object Subject: Re: Documenting OO Systems Message-ID: Date: 26 Mar 91 03:50:16 GMT References: <9103070342.AA07462@.nextserver.cs.stthomas.edu.cs.stthomas.edu ..> <1114@tetrauk.UUCP> <271@orbit.gtephx.UUCP> <20106@alice.att.com> Sender: dwwx@cbnewsk.att.com (david.w.wood) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 39 In-Reply-To: ark@alice.att.com's message of 23 Mar 91 14:03:15 GMT >In article jls@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Jim Showalter) writes: > >> No shit! Most C++ is indistinguishable from line noise. >> Ada, properly written, looks like an English language >> description of the processing being performed, with the >> added advantage that it also executes. (There is no need >> for pseudo-code, or even much need for comments.) > >That was the rationale for Cobol too, in the 1950s. > >It didn't work then either. >-- > --Andrew Koenig > ark@europa.att.com As much as I would like to agree with Andrew about this, I'm afraid the evidence is against him. The business world (and DoD) has too many millions of lines of COBOL to claim that it didn't work (and more are being written every year). As to Jim's statment that Ada looks like English, he must be using a different version of English than I am (probably a DoD approved/validated version :-). I don't believe that anyone would say the same about C++ (but then again...). Anyway, I personally DON'T want to write code in English. I program in C++, C, Lisp, KSH, AWK, ICON on a day-to-day basis. They all suffer from the same problem, they are too far removed from the problem domain semantics in which I am trying to solve problems (of course with C++ and Lisp I can build up the semantics and syntactic sugars to write "natural" solutions, but I want to solve problems ASAP, not spend weeks/months building a vocabulary to solve the problem). To get back to root of all these postings: So as far as productivity is concerned, Ada and C++ are the same within a constant factor. David Wood att!bubba!dww