I must be from outta town...

Post #79,206 by jb4 2/4/03 11:41:50 AM Reply	I must be from outta town... ...but I guess I don't see it. Not to brag, but I've been writing effective C++ programs for over 13 years now. I don't have problems with memory leaks (well, not in the last 10 years or so, anyway...;-) ), I don't find it "overly complex to write memory management routines" (and I've written my share of operator new overloads, and an occasional allocator or two) So what is it? Was it that you were just burned trying to write a C++ program before you were fully versed in it? Did you come to C++ directly from Basic or PL/1 or some other abomination? Is it just that C++ isn't as "cool" as Smalltalk? I guess I just don't get the hostility. For my own part, I'd rather write in C++ than C, or Pascal, or Java, or (visual) Basic, or C-pigpen, or any language that purports to "protect me from myself". (I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself, thankyouverymuch...I know how to use a rubber!). To be sure, I don't know Objective-C or Smalltalk, both of which are supposed to be "very cool", but for some unfathomable reason, seem to be relagated to the nether reaches of computer languagedom (is there a reason for that?). So perhaps when I get expoed to these gems, I might have to change my mind. Until then, I guess I just don't see the reason for all this vitriol. So ante up, Ross, Scott. Whatcher problem? jb4 "They lead. They don't manage. The carrot always wins over the stick. Ask your horse. You can lead your horse to water, but you can't manage him to drink." Richard Kerr, United Technologies Corporation, 1990
Post #79,214 by admin 2/4/03 12:01:11 PM 2/4/03 12:05:05 PM Reply	Re: I must be from outta town... C++ is a godforsaken hack, overly complex for what it purports to accomplish. The whole concept of "interface defined by header file" is ridiculous. The Byzantine pointer usage, template definitions, etc. As you aptly put it: "burned trying to write a C++ program before you were fully versed in it". Any language that requires months or years of in-depth study to use effectively Just Isn't Worth It in my book. I'm not exactly stupid when it comes to learning new languages, either. Did you come to C++ directly from Basic or PL/1 or some other abomination? No, directly from Java, Python, C, and a few other languages. I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself, thankyouverymuch Java doesn't protect me from anything that's worth worrying about. If I want to worry about when an object gets released from memory, I can. Otherwise I don't have to. With C++ I don't really have that choice, apart from using add-on hacks like "smart pointers". Bottom line: C++ requires to much damn thought and code that could better be spent solving actual problems, instead of those created by the compiler. Caveat: perhaps if I only had to deal with my own code, I could limit the stupidities. However, that isn't the Real World, so I have to deal with const madness and the like. YMMV. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..." Edited by admin Feb. 4, 2003, 12:05:05 PM EST Expand All History
Post #79,246 by jb4 2/4/03 1:35:43 PM Reply	There is NOTHING wrong with pointers! Damn, Scott, you just hit a hot button with me. The Byzantine pointer usage,[...] Any "Byzantine pointer usage" is not the fault of the language, dammit! It is, purely, simply, and solely the fault of the programmer!!! who doesn't know how, when, or why to use pointers. Don't go blaming the language for the faults of the practitioners! There is no doubt that you are "[...]not exactly stupid when it comes to learning new languages, either.". I'm using a perfect example of that right now. But for you to make a remark like that is so unlike you so as to make me believe that your login has been copped by someone else. There is nothing wrong with pointers. There is nothing wrong with pointers in C, nor in C++, nor in Objective-C, nor in assembly, nor in any other computer language that allows them. IMnsHO, computer languages that don't allow them are brain damaged, as there are some things you just can't do without them. Nowadays, there are languages that try to make you believe that there are no pointers in the language; they try to "hide" pointers from you, making them with names like "references". These are similarly brain-damaged, for the simple reason that they make you play hide-and-seek with the address of an object. I wouldn't want to write an OS in such a language. If you want to decry the (ab)users of the tool, fine. I'll join you! But don't decry the tool itself. jb4 "They lead. They don't manage. The carrot always wins over the stick. Ask your horse. You can lead your horse to water, but you can't manage him to drink." Richard Kerr, United Technologies Corporation, 1990
Post #79,257 by admin 2/4/03 1:55:10 PM Reply	Re: There is NOTHING wrong with pointers! (new thread) Created as new thread #79256 titled [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=79256\|Re: There is NOTHING wrong with pointers!] Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #79,259 by CRConrad 2/4/03 1:57:07 PM 2/4/03 1:59:50 PM Reply	Thing is, some tools are more abuse-prone than others. [Please redirect any replies to this to "Programming", as I should have done in the first place. I just forgot where we were at... See now, Scott, why we need to be able to redirect on edit? :^] And C/C++ is definitely one of the more abuse-prone ones, when it comes to pointers. Sure, the Byzantine pointer usage can be said to be the fault of the practitioners... But why, then, is such an overwhelming majority of C/C++ code just such a Byzantine mess? Are you saying the language(s) attract (at least comparatively) moronic coders? No, I think there's something wrong in the language itself; something that positively encourages such over- (or ab-) use of pointers. Perhaps, as the flip side to your "languages that don't allow them are brain damaged" coin, C/C++ is/are at least equally brain damaged language(s) because they don't allow you to do a lot of stuff without pointers -- everybody going, "that's easy, just use pointers!" when the question comes up -- that you really ought to be able to do without them? [link\|mailto:MyUserId@MyISP.CountryCode\|Christian R. Conrad] (I live in Finland, and my e-mail in-box is at the Saunalahti company.) Your lies are of Microsoftian Scale and boring to boot. Your 'depression' may be the closest you ever come to recognizing truth: you have no 'inferiority complex', you are inferior - and something inside you recognizes this. - [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=71575\|Ashton Brown] Edited by CRConrad Feb. 4, 2003, 01:59:50 PM EST Expand All History
Post #79,336 by dmarker 2/4/03 7:43:47 PM Reply	You just said it !!!! >> Don't go blaming the language for the faults of the practitioners! << This point you made says it all in regard to C++. Good practitioners of C++ are gold, BUT, they are few & far between - That is the point. Doug M
Post #79,335 by dmarker 2/4/03 7:40:45 PM Reply	Saved me the trouble - ditto - to JB4 You can speak for yourself and I am sure you are a disciplined programmer, but as another poster mentioned the word arrogance (not say it applies to you) but it does apply to too many programmers who think their "s*** doesn't smell" because they are among the elite who can program in C++ and manage memory allocation & deallocation effectively. They tend to be in the minority by far. Programming is about getting work done & is not all about proving how clever one is. Java (more so with Smalltalk) allows more effective work to be done. C++ as a way of getting work done, is a pig. Cheers Doug Marker

Welcome to IWETHEY!