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From: g-frank@gumby.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: pascal
Message-ID: <264@gumby.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Jan-85 23:31:30 EST
Article-I.D.: gumby.264
Posted: Wed Jan 30 23:31:30 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Feb-85 10:50:22 EST
References: <7854@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 48

> /* i got bitten by the line eater, so i'll post this again...
> 
> > > /*
> > > 
> > > to paraphrase lyrics from sugar magnolia (grateful dead)
> > > 
> > > C's got everything delightful
> > > C's got everything i need
> > > 
> > > */
> > 
> > The more things change, the more they are the same.  Try to convince a
> > dedicated FORTRAN hacker that it's time to move up to a (gasp!) structured
> > language like C, and see what kind of answer you get . . .
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> >       Dan Frank
> > 
> > 	"good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance."
> 
> I assume you are berating me for not converting from C to Pascal. Tell me some
> good things about Pascal. I happen to think it is pathetic. Let's see, first
> there was Pascal, then Modula-1, then Modula-2. Looks like it took Wirth three
> tries to get it right (if in fact he did). The claim that "It was designed as a
> teaching language" doesn't cut it with me. It's a toy. If I were Blaise I'd be
> rolling over in my grave. 
> 
> */

I thought it was a silly thing to say when I replied to it (or the incomplete
version) the first time.  However, now that I know what you were replying to,
I have a less flip answer:

I am not berating you for not switching to Pascal.  Pascal is a pretty old
language, too.  I AM berating people (I don't know if this includes you) who
keep their minds firmly closed to new and better ways to solve problems,
including newer programming languages, simply because they know one way to
do something and don't want to learn another.

To say, "X is all I need," is to say, "I have stopped growing."  It's also
unbearably smug (is there a net.smug?).


-- 
      Dan Frank

	"good news is just life's way of keeping you off balance."