Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:26357 comp.lang.c++:6669 comp.sys.ibm.pc:45294
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cadillac!pebbles!ned
From: ned@pebbles.cad.mcc.com (Ned Nowotny)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: open this package and you're stuck with it
Message-ID: <6422@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM>
Date: 27 Feb 90 04:12:45 GMT
References: <48a44d7c.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Sender: news@cadillac.CAD.MCC.COM
Reply-To: ned@MCC.COM (Ned Nowotny)
Distribution: usa
Organization: MCC CAD Program, Austin, TX
Lines: 32

In article <48a44d7c.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> nelson_p@apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson) writes:
>
>   Another larger question to ask is why this industry insists on
>   shipping beta-quality products as finshed products.   When I got
>   my Zortech Rev 2.0 package the disk envelope seal was already broken!!!
>   I called Zortech and they said that THEY opened the package to insert
>   some disks with some last minute changes.   Now they're shipping a
>   version 2.06 to fix some more problems.
>

Generally speaking, I agree with your complaint.  However, you should not
be too hard on Zortech because of their C++ compiler.  After all, there are
no correct implementations of C++ anywhere in the known world.  In fact,
there can't be.  Even if all of the known bugs in the quintessential
reference implementation of C++ were fixed, the language itself is still
incompletely defined.

While I like several of the features C++ offers, I can not recommend it for
general use.  If you are looking for compilers which should live up to
reasonable expectations of merchantability, I would have to suggest that
you stick to languages with both well defined standards and a good many
years of implementation experience behind them.

On the other hand, if you want the features that C++ offers with a fair
degree of compatibility with existing C development environments, then by
all means use C++.  But remember, "you pays your money and you takes your
chances."

Ned Nowotny, MCC CAD Program, Box 200195, Austin, TX  78720  Ph: (512) 338-3715
ARPA: ned@mcc.com                   UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cadillac!ned
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We have ways to make you scream." - Intel advertisement in the June 1989 DDJ.