Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!uxc!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!auspex!guy
From: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Piles of plusses (was Re: comma
Message-ID: <1526@auspex.auspex.com>
Date: 1 May 89 21:41:38 GMT
References: <810044@hpsemc.HP.COM> <47800031@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris)
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara
Lines: 29

>>   In FORTRAN it is STILL allowed to use variables that have not been 
>>declared.   This is a practise that should be eliminated from all serious
>>programming languages, due to the ease with which bugs can be created.
>
>It is not a matter of "being still allowed" --it is that automatic
>generation of variable is the heart and soul of Fortran.

Geez.  Sounds like it's time for a heart transplant....

>Many, many supposedly "more advanced" languages such as Pascal and C
>STILL require you to declare all variables - just like assembly
>language. Fortran and Basic, apparently alone, have the computer
>do the work for you (in the most common cases) [although C 
>will in some cases allow you to do without declaring some things
>to be int, the most common being functions].

Sorry, but I don't think computers are smart enough to "do the work for
me", given that they have a habit of blithely allowing me to write code
that attempts to refer to a variable named "foobar" but says "foobra"
instead.  I'd rather computers were *less* likely to assume I know what
I'm doing when my fingers exchange two letters, since I usually *don't*
intend to do so.

Yes, believe it or not, there are reasons why some of us find it better
to work with languages that do not automatically declare variables - we
make fewer errors that way.  Was your posting just intended to provoke
controversy, or do you really have evidence to show that people are more
productive - counting time tracking down errors caused by unproductive
typos - with languages that automatically declare objects?