Software: C++ language code?

[iouswuoibev]

I'll add that the more expressive (read: high-level) a language is, the easier it is to understand. The more flexible a language is, the more you can learn about computers in general from it.

[iouswuoibev]

I would love to see a critique of various computer languages.

Me too. I think I'll write one some day.

And Ayn Rand's epistemology could be the key to make such a topic relevent.

Ayn Rand's epistemology (and the only true epistemology) - or, more precisely, the method it teaches - is absolutely essential to being a good programmer. The extent to which and the skill at which you make abstractions, plays an enormous role in your ability to write good code.

How does a language help the programmer respect the crow epistemology? How does the language allow the programmer to combine abstractions into higher level abstractions.

This is an excellent question, and one that I, or someone else, would have to think carefully about. Languages are very unique and individual. There's no better word for describing the way C++ does things, than "C++". Discovering what qualities it posesses that make it suited to a particular task, and why, requires an extensive process of deduction, and isn't something anyone could post about offhandedly in this forum. But maybe someone else has already done the necessary thinking, and will enlighten us.

By the way, I don't believe the evolution of computer languages has anything to do with the computer. The trend from assembly to modern Object-Oriented languages is really about a new industry discovering the best way to organize programmatic information for the human to cope with. (This view differs from the view that the evolution of better and better languages is in some way implementing consciousness on the computer).

There's not much I can say here except that I totally agree with you.

The computer is flipping switches, and if the switch settings came from assembly or from a visual basic representation has no effect on the execution of the computer.

I wonder how many programmers really keep that in mind...

[Bryan]

In response to the previous 5 or so posts about the pluses and minuses of specific programming languages I recommend the following website: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html.

I'm currently reading a book by Paul Graham, called Hackers and Painters, that is essentially a collection of the some the essays on his website. He has some fairly insightful things to say about specific languages and language design.

I specifically recommend reading The Hundred Year Language. There is also another essay in his book called, "Programming Langauges Explained", that is very good, but it's not posted on the wesite.

[iouswuoibev]

In response to the previous 5 or so posts about the pluses and minuses of specific programming languages I recommend the following website: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html.

I'm currently reading a book by Paul Graham, called Hackers and Painters, that is essentially a collection of the some the essays on his website.  He has some fairly insightful things to say about specific languages and language design.

I've read his "Hackers and Painters" article before and I think I even posted a link here. I remember he wrote some pretty enlightening stuff but I'd have to read it again to clarify what he said. I'll also consider buying his book, now that you've reminded me of its existence.

[Bryan]

I've read his "Hackers and Painters" article before and I think I even posted a link here. I remember he wrote some pretty enlightening stuff but I'd have to read it again to clarify what he said. I'll also consider buying his book, now that you've reminded me of its existence.

I "stumbled" upon it at a bookstore one day, I was just browsing books in the technology section. There are two essays in the book that aren't on the website called, "How to Make Wealth" and "Mind the Gap" (connecting unequal distributions of wealth to the health of a society) that most Objectivists would love. For me, it was $15 well spent.