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Dear Andreas:
On Fri, 14 Feb 2003 09:50:54 you wrote:
>However, I think it is both, unprofessional and unfair to promote
>BlackBox at the expense of a different tool.
I apologise for being unfair and unprofessional.
> Especially If you obviously do not know how to use
> the other tool (C++) appropriately.
I am not sure how this "obviously" follows from my posting,
but I will not object. Definitely, my BlackBox skills are
far better than my C++ skills.
I should perhaps admit that I am biased against the C++ tools
through using one particular data processing system, which I even
mentioned in the 1st paragraph of my posting. I do not want to
discuss its demerits here. I know it from experience, and this
experience is frightening. Excuse me if this is unprofessional.
> Why not just use the class vector from the Standard Library
> instead of an array?
Are you refering to the C++ standard library? Well, then perhaps
I have not expressed my thoughts clearly enough. Let me clarify.
This was a particular story. I wanted to illustrate, on a particular
example, how and why BlackBox makes me productive. It does so
by not crashing, intercepting the runtime errors, and being very robust
(though not infinitely robust, which is probably impossible).
Furthermore, the compiler is seamlesly integrated with the editor,
and the runtime system is integrated with the debugger. All this
works, does not crash, and I can rely on the system. Being able
to trust my tool is a rare priviledge. I wanted to convey this
message. It was not my intention to start a technical discussion
about merits of a particular class library.
> Please note that there is a difference between being ABLE to use range
> checking and being FORCED to use range checking! Personally I like to
> have a choice. For example in graphics programming you have situations
> there you just can't afford range checking. Not relying on range checking
> is one of the more harmless things you do to optimize the inner loops ...
Yes, of course. I can switch off range checking in BlackBox, too.
It is a compile-time option. Did you not know this?
> Unfortunately this tells us more about your friends than about C++.
> Don't try technological fixes for sociological problems ...
I grouped these two sentences together because I think you are exactly
right. I am afraid my friends would create similar mess in any
language. Writing good software requires knowledge, patience, and
discipline. The attitude does matter. I also suspect, that some of my
friends actually enjoy using the language which makes it easy to
obfuscate their code. Just to illustrate what I mean, in the room
where I am typying this message there is a piece of paper taped
to the wall with the following programming example entitled "the
funniest C code".
int aa = 1, *a = &aa;
*a+++=+-++*a--;
printf("*a+++=+-++*a-- gives a*=%d\n", *a);
I hope you understand this "funniest code". I will not even try.
Just to clarify, I sometimes program in C, most recently an embedded
microcontroller. I have an ambition that the board I designed will be
reliable, which means I do not plan to try such "funny programming".
Does this make sense, or should I try?
> The problem with reliable software is not using one tool or the other.
> The problem is knowing when and how to use the tool.
A robust language and environment are the most important tools.
This was the essence of my message. Do you disagree?
Thank you,
Wojtek Skulski skulski{([at]})nowhere.xy
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Received on Sun Feb 16 2003 - 02:07:49 UTC