Re: simple vs complex languages

Albert Hofkamp wrote:


<snip>
> > right. Can you guess I like Pascal, which was designed from the outset
> > for a single pass RDP?
>
> There is a big didactic problem with Pscal imho. The language pushes
> the top-down design approach, yet I have to write my program
> bottom-up. I think that is a very big compromise for ease of parsing.


With respect, that dog won't hunt. I've been hearing this complaint
for decades, but I still don't buy it.


I presume you're talking about the requirement in classical Pascal
that requires a function to be declared before it's referenced. Duh!
What else would anyone expect?


C used to allow functions to be declared later in the code than the
calls to them. It doesn't, anymore. Today we use prototypes, which is
a whole lot better deal. Pascal also allows prototypes -- otherwise
one could never do forward references. So why is one language
superior to the other in this respect? How is it that Pascal forces
you to "write .. bottom-up," where C does not???


As for me, I have a screen editor. I am perfectly capable of going to
the bottom of the file instead of the top, if I want to write the main
program first. It only takes one press of Ctrl-End. I think I can
manage that.


I think you are confusing the design/development approaches of
software engineering with language syntax features. There is no
reason one cannot do top-down design in Pascal, C, Forth, or any other
language.


Good luck, however, trying to execute the main program before you've
defined its subroutines.


Jack
[In the versions of Lisp that I know, a function doesn't have to be
declared or defined until its called. That can make development a lot
easier. -John]

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