Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pdn!tscs!tct!chip From: chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) Newsgroups: comp.object Subject: Re: ada-c++ productivity Keywords: Looking for a few lazy men Message-ID: <27F0E12E.5B35@tct.uucp> Date: 27 Mar 91 18:15:09 GMT References: <23084@as0c.sei.cmu.edu> <27ECFFBB.1F19@tct.uucp> Organization: Teltronics/TCT, Sarasota, FL Lines: 35 [ Relevance to comp.object: C++ is based on ANSI C, and will therefore (I presume) include the entire ANSI C library. ] According to jls@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Jim Showalter): >C is separable from its standard libraries. That's the PROBLEM. C has a standard library: the one defined by ANSI. All hosted implementations of ANSI C have that entire library. There is such a thing as non-hosted ANSI C, but that's irrelevant to this discussion. >Ada comes complete with a standard set of predefined packages. >Note the term "standard". Ada written solely against these >predefined packages stands a very good chance of being portable >with ease across a wide variety of different platforms. s/Ada/C: C comes complete with a standard set of predefined routines and variables. Note the term "standard". C written solely against these predefined routines and variables stands a very good chance of being portable with ease across a wide variety of different platforms. Moral: Portability is not an Ada exclusive. OS libraries, by definition, are not standard. If a given C program is not portable across environments, then dependence on OS libraries is often the reason. That is not the fault of ANSI, it is the fault of the programmer. If you still don't understand, I could retype it a little slower. -- Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT , "All this is conjecture of course, since I *only* post in the nude. Nothing comes between me and my t.b. Nothing." -- Bill Coderre