Newsgroups: alt.lang.design,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.lisp
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!sgiblab!pacbell.com!att-out!nntpa!nntpa.cb.att.com!lgm
From: lgm@polaris.ih.att.com (Lawrence G. Mayka)
Subject: Re: Comparing productivity: LisP against C++ (was Re: Reference Counting)
In-Reply-To: det@sw.stratus.com's message of 20 Dec 1994 13:37:17 GMT
Message-ID: <LGM.94Dec21090132@polaris.ih.att.com>
Sender: news@nntpa.cb.att.com (Netnews Administration)
Nntp-Posting-Host: polaris.ih.att.com
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Illinois, USA
References: <19941203T221402Z.enag@naggum.no> <BUFF.94Dec15103904@pravda.world>
	<D0xAIp.3Dn@rheged.dircon.co.uk> <vrotneyD11MDv.Ks7@netcom.com>
	<vogtD12y8D.HLL@netcom.com> <3d5alh$6j7@celebrian.otago.ac.nz>
	<MARCOXA.94Dec20011100@mosaic.nyu.edu>
	<3d6mmd$r1q@transfer.stratus.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 1994 15:01:32 GMT
Lines: 34
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.c++:104360 comp.lang.lisp:16132

In article <3d6mmd$r1q@transfer.stratus.com> det@sw.stratus.com (Dave Toland) writes:

   In addition to initial implementation, what about maintainability?  Which
   language is more reliably modified when the requirements evolve?

I certainly agree that =evolvability= is perhaps the most important
characteristic of a large application nowadays.  No one can afford to
build a stone-monolith application that crumbles as soon as the
requirements change.  Note that this pertains not only to application
maintenance, but to initial implementation as well, insofar as
requirements can and do change even during the initial architecture,
design, and implementation.  A company that refuses to recognize this
reality will repeatedly build products that are obsolete (from the
customer's viewpoint) before they leave the shop.

Similarly, evolvability is probably the most important characteristic
of a programming language as well.  A programming language, together
with its implementations, libraries, development environments, and
associated infrastructure, is itself a very large application of
computing technology to meet customer needs.  As these needs change,
so must the language, its implementations, libraries, and
environments.  Once again, a language that refuses to recognize this
reality will be obsolete before it even achieves standardization.

Perhaps those with significant experience in both CLOS and C++ can
comment on the ability of those languages, and the large applications
built with them, to evolve smoothly and rapidly to meet customer
needs.
--
        Lawrence G. Mayka
        AT&T Bell Laboratories
        lgm@ieain.att.com

Standard disclaimer.
