Re: Programming Languages, "to C or not to C, that is the Q."

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>]

On Mon, Jan 24, 2005 at 08:27:05PM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-01-24 at 15:23 -0700, Paul E Condon wrote:
> > On Sun, Jan 23, 2005 at 11:46:46PM -0500, J.F.Gratton wrote:
> > > Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't there a few (well ok, at least one)
> > > OS written in SmallTalk ? I seem to remember that from my computer
> > > science courses. I could be something planted in my memory by some evil
> > > alien that wanted to promote wide-spread use of SmallTalk, tho :)
> > > 
> > 
> > IMHO, the real test of a HLL for use on big, serious projects is
> > whether or not the compiler for the language is written in the
> 
> Why is that The Real Test?  What makes self-compilation such a
> big deal?
> 
> IMNSHO, it's a bogus test.
> 

I intended that the clause 'for big, serious projects' be understood as
a restrictive. For a speed programming contest in a high school or college
computer club, some other criteria would surely be more important.

In an earlier post to this thread, I expressed the opinion that most
languages have special merit in some domain. That, in effect, almost all
are good for something, and that it is unlikely that there will ever be
a single language that is best in all situations. 

All things in moderation.

-- 
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net