[0.987*OT] The Problem With Programming

>From: "Klaus D. Witzel" <[hidden email]>
>Reply-To: The general-purpose Squeak developers
>list<[hidden email]>
>To: [hidden email]
>Subject: [0.987*OT] The Problem With Programming
>Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:39:58 +0100
>
>quote "Bjarne Stroustrup, who invented C++, explains in this interview  
>that he still stands by the language he built, and thinks that most  
>programming being done now is below par. While there is quality software  
>out there, like Google, he says, "looking at the 'average' piece of code  
>can make me cry. The structure is appalling, and the programmers clearly  
>didn't think deeply about correctness, algorithms, data structures, or  
>maintainability." Rather than being sure of a system's quality and why it  
>works so well, Stroustrup says programmers are "in a constant state of  
>grasping at straws to get our work done. The snag is we often do not know  
>how we did it: a system just 'sort of evolved' into something minimally  
>acceptable." In order to remedy this situation, he thinks that education  
>must be improved, using "more-appropriate design methods, and design for  
>flexibility and for the long haul." However, this fix is difficult to  
>achieve because computer users do not want to be inconvenienced by abrupt  
>changes; only a gradual, wide-ranging effort toward change will be  
>effective. "Software developers have neutralized the astounding  
>performance of modern computer hardware by adding layer upon layer of  
>over-elaborate [software] abstractions," says Stroustrup, whose solution  
>is that more experts should be trained to use C++, as it as fallen out of  
>the mainstream, rather than simply "dumb[ing] down" programming languages.  
>He says the generality built into C++ was the result of his "view that to  
>do higher-level stuff, to build complete applications, you first needed to  
>buy, build, or borrow libraries providing appropriate abstractions."  
>Stroustrup believes that "======>" the large amount of criticism that has  
>been aimed at C++ is a testament to how useful it really is "<======"."  
>unquote.
>
>Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of the C++ programming language, defends  
>his legacy and examines what's wrong with most software code [here:]
>
>- http://www.techreview.com/InfoTech/17831/
>
>/Klaus
>
>