Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!chinet!nucsrl!gore
From: gore@nucsrl.UUCP (Jacob Gore)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Discussions of languages (Was: Re: Modern langauges)
Message-ID: <4000008@nucsrl.UUCP>
Date: 10 Jan 88 21:45:22 GMT
References: <3315@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 22

/ nucsrl:comp.lang.misc / pase@ogcvax.UUCP (Douglas M. Pase) / Jan  8, 1988 /
>If you* wait for the compiler or runtime system to tell you when you make a
>mistake, that's lazy, perhaps even irresponsible programming to me.  If you
>understood what you were doing, you would have reasonable confidence in your
>code.

My code?  What makes you think I wrote the original code?  This type of
reasoning may apply to a shorter, "one owner" program, but it cannot be
applied to a larger system which multiple people have worked on over the
period of its existence.

Besides, even if it's my own little program, why shouldn't I expect the
routine checks to be done for me?  I always thought that the computer should
be doing routine things whenever possible.  I do have reasonable confidence in
my code.  Yet, I've been around long enough to have reasonable lack of
confidence in it.  Of course I'll make my best effort not to make any
mistakes, and to avoid short-sighted assumptions.  But I know that I won't
always succeed, so I'd like my supporting software to help me catch problems
when they arize.

Jacob Gore				gore@EECS.NWU.Edu
Northwestern Univ., EECS Dept.		{gargoyle,ihnp4,chinet}!nucsrl!gore