Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!ece-csc!mcnc!thorin!retina!coggins
From: coggins@retina.cs.unc.edu (Dr. James Coggins)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Current O-O Languages as Software Engineering Tools
Message-ID: <5155@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 8 Nov 88 03:46:46 GMT
Sender: news@thorin.cs.unc.edu
Lines: 32

In order to give the religious debate on C++ vs. Objective-C a more
solid (well, a little less vaporous) foundation, consider the
following propositions that were proposed to me recently:

1. Smalltalk-like languages (including Obj-C) do a better job of
separating specification and implementation than Simula-like languages
(including C++). 

2. Smalltalk-like languages are better tools for developing small
programs because of their massive built-in class libraries and their
more flexible (later, dynamic) binding which allows polymorphic types. 

3. Simula-like languages are better tools for medium size software
development because for these larger projects it is worth building
specialized class hierarchies for the particular system, yielding a
better match to conceptual structures and increased programmer and
run-time efficiency. 

Now for the leap...

4. The Smalltalk-like languages will be the better tools for large
software development because item #1 above will kick in to make the
project more manageable. 

Opinions?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. James M. Coggins          coggins@cs.unc.edu
Computer Science Department   
UNC-Chapel Hill               Old: Data + Algorithms = Programs
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-3175    New: Objects + Objects = Objects
---------------------------------------------------------------------