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From: kanze@lts.sel.alcatel.de (James Kanze US/ESC 60/3/141 #40763)
Subject: Re: Style: multiple returns and relatives
In-Reply-To: JEThomas@ix.netcom.com's message of 18 Nov 1995 07:11:42 GMT
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Date: 21 Nov 1995 14:38:51 GMT
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In article <48k0ve$olm@ixnews7.ix.netcom.com> JEThomas@ix.netcom.com
(Jonah Thomas) writes:

|> Functional languages are unreadable.  The test is easy:  Pick a hundred
|> C programmers at random, give them functional code to read, and ask
|> them how readable it is.  Is that a biased test?  OK, then pick a
|> hundred programmers at random, ignoring their languages, give them the
|> code, and ask them how readable it is.  You'll find that equivalent C
|> code is much more readable.

The second test is (almost) the same as the first.  Pick 100
programmers at random, and you probably have about 90 C programmers.

I do find functional languages unreadable.  But I'm honest enough to
admit that this is a problem with me, not (necessarily) the language;
I've simply never used functional languages.

The only way you could really do an unbiased test would be either

1) to present functional code to people who have only seen procedural,
and procedural code to people who have only seen functional, or

2) to only present code to people who are familiar with both.

In fact, 1) will be impossible.  I don't think you'll find enough
programmers anywhere who have never seen procedural code.  As for 2, I
have a sneeking feeling that the results will be the opposite of what
you seem to claim; people I know who know both tend to prefer
functional languages.  (Don't know why, though.)
--
James Kanze         Tel.: (+33) 88 14 49 00        email: kanze@gabi-soft.fr
GABI Software, Sarl., 8 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
Conseils, tudes et ralisations en logiciel orient objet --
                -- A la recherche d'une activit dans une region francophone

