Objet : [OT] Software Carpentry

[Pierre Sahores]

Hello All,

> Major advances in programming come when languages start offering  
> support for things the best programmers are doing anyway
> For loops and if/then/else formalized what good Fortran programmers  
> were already doing
> Objects formalized the way good C, Pascal, and Lisp programmers  
> managed their data structures and functions
> Java deserves credit for bringing two previously-esoteric practices  
> into the mainstream
> Garbage collection: the computer recycles memory as it needs to
> Reflection: programs can inspect themselves at runtime
> Reflection simplifies the construction of large software systems
> Most big applications are now frameworks that load plug-in  
> components dynamically
> A little extra effort…
> …but it forces programmers to really, truly modularize their code…
> …which also reduces maintenance and customization costs
> Watching programs run is an essential part of the software  
> development process
> Which parts of my code can be thrown away?
> Which parts am I actually testing?
> Which parts of their work are my colleagues actually testing?
> Why is my program so slow?
> Modern computer systems are so complex that it's practically  
> impossible to figure this out from first principles
> So write the code, profile, and then start tuning

Very elegant analysis, isn't it..., execept one detail, unfortunally,  
bad knowed by the author : SmallTalk and Hypercard have to get the  
credits he is giving to Java. Java is mainly getting its main design,  
features and caracteristics from inside the SQL paradigm... And even  
if SQL can be seen as the most powerfull specialised XTalk dedicated  
to databases querying, in about general programming tasks, SQL  
would'nt be usefull... Java try to be... XTalks (Metacard, Rev,  
Supercard,..) are, pratically, doing what the author expect to get  
from J2EE ;-)

Best,

--
pierre