Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwvax!tank!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!johnson
From: johnson@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
Subject: Re: Eiffel vs. C++
Message-ID: <77300027@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 4 Jun 89 19:57:00 GMT
References: <2689@ssc-vax.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:ssc-vax.UUCP:2689:p.cs.uiuc.edu:77300027:000:2106
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!johnson    Jun  4 14:57:00 1989


My favorite language is Smalltalk.  I also do a lot of C++ programming.
I have never programmed in Eiffel, but I read the book.

Eiffel is a much more elegant language than C++.  C++ is more-or-less
upward compatible with C, which is both its greatest strength and its
greatest weakness.  C programmers will find it easy to program in C++,
though they might take a while to learn how to use it to best advantage.
Since there are so many C programmers, this means that C++ has a tremendous
marketing advantage.  However, if you don't use C then you don't care
about this feature.  Instead, you will spend a lot of time wondering
why C++ has this or that feature, with the answer invariably being
for compatibility.

Given the constraint of being an extension to C, I think that C++ is
quite well designed.  However, Eiffel does not have those constraints,
and so had a blank slate to solve problems like generic classes, multiple
inheritance, and exceptions.  Thus, it is not surprising that it is
quite a bit simpler and yet more powerful.

The first versions of C++ (i.e. the ones we had 3 or 4 years ago) were
fairly unreliable.  However, the current C++ compilers are pretty good.
I'm sure that the first versions of Eiffel were also buggy, but there
has been plenty of time to improve it.  Eiffel has satisfied users.

I have not seen any decent benchmarks comparing the languages.  As a
compiler expert, I don't see any real reason why Eiffel should be more
than 10% slower than C++, though of course I am assuming a reasonably
good compiler.

If you are not a C shop, or if you are unhappy with C, then I would
recommend giving Eiffel a close look.  By that I don't mean reading
the book.  Instead, buy a copy of the compiler and use it.  That is
the best way to learn about a language and to be certain of the
reliability and speed of an implemantation.

On the other hand, if your programmers know and love C then C++ is
the best way to go.  You can quickly get them to use the new compiler,
though getting them to exploit all the power of object-oriented
programming will endoubtedly take longer.