Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!azores!kornfein
From: kornfein@azores.crd.ge.com (Mark M. Kornfein)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: C++ vs. C
Message-ID: <18905@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Date: 25 Apr 91 12:56:59 GMT
References: <1991Apr24.125926.5146@asc.slb.com>
Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com
Reply-To: kornfein@azores.crd.ge.com (Mark M. Kornfein)
Organization: General Electric Corp. R&D, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 41

In article <1991Apr24.125926.5146@asc.slb.com> hargrove@asc.slb.com (Jim Hargrove) writes:
>
>This note is prompted by several postings by Scott Guthery, beginning
>with The Emperor Strikes Lethe. I am struck by how different SBG's
>experience with object oriented programming differs from my own. I
>began programming in C++ about 18 months ago. Prior to that, I worked
>mainly in C, though I have used many different languages over the
>years. 
>
>I believe that I am writing better programs today after switching to
>C++. Here is an example:  

[deleted C program and text]


>Obj->Display(W);
>
>which is better both technically and aesthetically. 

This example shows both the power of object oriented programming and a 
drawback of it. The C example is somewhat easier to debug and test than 
the C++ example from my experience. This is especially true if I did not
write the code originally.

From looking at the C++ I have no clear idea what method will be called without
looking further into the Display method and seeing which display method is
envoked for which object.  If I needed to change the Display methods I do not
even know which one's exist from this code.  It is true that a good browser
can help with this problem but in the real world one does not always have that
or even always have access to the executable code.

In the C example this flow of control is perfectly clear, I know all objects 
that can be handled and which piece of code displays which object.


                                       

===============================================================================
Mark Kornfein                            INET: kornfein@crd.ge.com 
GE Corporate R&D Center	                 UUCP: uunet!crd.ge.com!kornfein
Schenectady, NY