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From: lgm@polaris.ih.att.com (Lawrence G. Mayka)
Subject: Re: Comparing productivity: LisP against C++ (was Re: Reference Counting)
In-Reply-To: ark@research.att.com's message of Wed, 21 Dec 1994 05:35:25 GMT
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Date: Wed, 21 Dec 1994 15:45:20 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.c++:104375 comp.lang.lisp:16134

In article <D15BJ1.5Gq@research.att.com> ark@research.att.com (Andrew Koenig) writes:

   In article <3d86vh$1na@Mars.mcs.com> tmoog@MCS.COM (Thomas H. Moog) writes:

   > There is a way to measure language complexity to one significant
   > digit: the size of a good manual for the language.  The essentials for
   > SmallTalk are covered in about 100 pages of the blue book by Goldberg
   > (the rest is the "standard library" and details of implementation).
   > The C++ ARM is about 400 pages and is much more difficult reading then
   > Goldberg.  How large is a Lisp manual ?

   The Common Lisp manual is about 1,100 pages.

Mr. Moog is not including in his calculation the standard libraries,
only the "essentials" (i.e., the minimal language portion necessary to
derive the rest).  Of Steele's "Common Lisp: the Language - Second
Edition," I would include as essential in this sense roughly the first
11 chapters--less than 300 pages--with some crossover in both
directions.  (Some material in these chapters pertains to library
datatypes/functionality/forms, and some small portion of the material
in the rest of the book might be considered essential.)
--
        Lawrence G. Mayka
        AT&T Bell Laboratories
        lgm@ieain.att.com

Standard disclaimer.
