Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!caen!spool.mu.edu!uunet!visix!news
From: amanda@visix.com (Amanda Walker)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: named parameters and verbosity [was: Functions without side effects]
Message-ID: <1991Jun28.191256.18881@visix.com>
Date: 28 Jun 91 19:12:56 GMT
References: <130242@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <4888@osc.COM>
	<72893@microsoft.UUCP> <1991Jun21.013944.23970@netcom.COM>
	<20445@alice.att.com> <1991Jun26.001847.24239@netcom.COM>
	<1991Jun26.185707.26149@visix.com> <1991Jun27.052157.2291@visix.com>
	<1991Jun27.232437.
Sender: news@visix.com
Organization: Visix Software Inc., Reston, VA
Lines: 30

jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) writes:

   in SOME languages the language designer is kind enough to supply
   the programmer with LANGUAGE constructs that directly support good
   coding style, and in others the onus is on the programmer.

Jim, the onus is *always* on the programmer.  I have never seen any
situation in which clear, legible code is easier to write than
confusing, illegible code.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  Writing well requires
skill and talent, whether you are writing C, Ada, or English.

   there are a lot of other languages that simply GIVE you enumeration types
   so you don't have to use good community hygiene in order to write readable
   code (even C++ has them...imagine that!).

Yo.  Even C has them.  Has had for, oh, ten years or so.  Modern compilers
even typecheck them for you.  What a concept :).

   You might be amazed, but this is remarkably similar to Ada's formal
   parameter names, named parameter association, and default arguments,
   which I was discussing earlier in this thread.

I never said Ada was a crock :).  I just think your arguments for it (and
against "C") could be ... er ... better constructed.
--
Amanda Walker						      amanda@visix.com
Visix Software Inc.					...!uunet!visix!amanda
-- 
"C++ is like a glass of buttermilk: the taste doesn't bother you so much;
 it's what it does to the glass afterwards."	--Kurt Schmucker