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From: chrisp@regenmeister.EBay.Sun.COM (Chris Prael)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: bridge building (was Re: Documenting OO Systems)
Message-ID: <1311@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM>
Date: 8 May 91 22:57:38 GMT
References: <1991May3.234349.14026@auto-trol.com>
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From article <1991May3.234349.14026@auto-trol.com>, by alesha@auto-trol.com (Alec Sharp):
> 
> All this talk about C and software engineering reminds me of the NRA 
> argument - guns aren't dangerous, people are dangerous.  Sure, you can

You ever have someone come after you with a carving knife or a tire iron?
I haven't either, but if someone did, it wouldn't make the least little
bit of difference that neither device can throw lead.

> do software engineering in C, but most people don't.  Maybe the people
> defending C as a software engineering tool force themselves to abide
> by various conventions but most people I've worked with don't.  In my
> experience there are too many hackers out there, and they love C
> because it let's them hack.

The point that you seem to me to be missing is that the languages that
attempt to force the programmer into "good" practices do no better than
C.  

No one has built a compiler that can force you to get or develop a clear 
statement of requirements.  No one has built a compiler that can force 
you to completely design the functionality of a program (or even 
partially, for that matter).  No one has built a compiler that can force
you to have peers and/or users review your design.  No one has built a
compiler that will force you to design how the program will implement the
functionality you have arrived at.

These are the processes that an "engineer" goes through, whether s/he is
building software, a disk drive, a car engine, or a bridge.  If you are
not going through these processes, you are not an engineer and no
compiler yet imagined can help or force you to be one.

If you just sit down and start bashing out code, you are hacking, no
matter how "clean" the code is.

Chris Prael