Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!uw-june!rkr
From: rkr@june.cs.washington.edu (R. K. Raj)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Smalltalk-80 like inheritance in C++ possible ?
Message-ID: <7668@june.cs.washington.edu>
Date: 26 Mar 89 04:15:10 GMT
References: <110@honold.UUCP> <5481@rlvd.UUCP> <1411@sw1e.UUCP> <9174@claris.com> <1421@sw1e.UUCP> <1335@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Reply-To: rkr@uw-june.UUCP (R. K. Raj)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA
Lines: 39

In <1335@blake.acs.washington.edu> Thomas Keffer writes:
>In <1421@sw1e.UUCP> Brian Gilstrap writes:

>>parameterized types in C++.  It boggled my mind.  Sure I figured out what
>>he was talking about, and yes I could decipher the code.  But it's all so
>>complicated with so many exceptions that it begins to seem like it's not
>>worth the effort to learn.

>I couldn't agree more!
>
>I am NOT a computer scientist.  But, I AM a good programmer.  It's
>just that I don't LIKE to learn all the intricate details of a
>complicated language.  (You can have virtual destructors, but not

> Dr. Thomas Keffer       | Internet: keffer@sperm.ocean.washington.edu
> School of Oceanography  | BITNET:   keffer%sperm.ocean.washington.edu@UWAVM

I couldn't agree more either!

I AM a computer scientist (got two CS degrees to write home about, anyway :=).
And I'd say I am a good programmer, but perhaps a lousy hacker.

The real problem is that there aren't any *good* object-oriented languages
(outside the research world, and even inside!) that have efficient
implementations for people to use for practical programming. While the
design and implementation of C++ shows a brilliant way of adding
"object-oriented"ness to C, there's only so much that can be done to C (or
for that matter to any existing language). There is rather like Fortran;
none of the various dialects, Fortran-77 before/after, can really hide the
face of Fortran from seeping through.

There are times when it makes sense to start off with a clean slate, and
this is one such occasion. Unfortunately, I think that the time/money/effort
that will be spent on C++ guarantees that we all are doomed (destined if you
object :=) to become expert C++ programmers. Or stick to Fortran :=)

  -  R. K. Raj
     rkr@june.cs.washington.edu
     rkr@uw-june.UUCP