Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.objective-c,comp.lang.eiffel,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.windows.ms.programmer.misc,comp.sys.next.programmer
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!mole-end!mat
From: mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us
Subject: Re: seeking scientific studies comparing OO languages (Summary)
Message-ID: <1995Jan5.102903.26687@mole-end.matawan.nj.us>
Summary: Since when have they been done?  Or taken seriously?
Organization: :
References: <3arc3k$h8@esmerelda.whitelight.com> <johnson.788936415@hal.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 10:29:03 GMT
Lines: 31
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.c++:106111 comp.lang.objective-c:3510 comp.lang.eiffel:7432 comp.lang.smalltalk:19259 comp.sys.next.programmer:21647

In article <johnson.788936415@hal.cs.uiuc.edu>, johnson@hal.cs.uiuc.edu (Ralph Johnson) writes:
> jaime@whitelight.com (Jaime Guerrero) writes:
 
> >On Nov 21, 1994 I wrote:
> >> I seek any references to scientific studies comparing the merits of  
> >> various object-oriented languages when developing large applications.
> >Here are the studies I found or to which I was referred:
 
> But none of them are *scientific* studies.  They are anecdotal, or
> based on some asthetics or theory.  They might come to correct
> conclusions, but they are not *scientific*.  ...  This is not strange for
> software, since scientific studies are very expensive and so rarely done.
> But let's not cloud the issue by pretending that these were scientific.

Remember that lots of `scientific' studies have been done of production
lines and similar processes.  Few have been done of the _engineering_
process by which the product is designed.  But for software, it's _all_
engineering.

There have been some studies on the effects of light, air, and humane
treatment of creative employees.  They are uniformly ignored by managers
who buy into such crock as open-plan offices and modular desks that are
too shallow to open a listing.

Why should people do scientific studies when nobody seems to care about
them anyway?
-- 
 (This man's opinions are his own.)
 From mole-end				Mark Terribile
 mat@mole-end.matawan.nj.us, Somewhere in Matawan, NJ
	(Training and consulting in C, C++, UNIX, etc.)
