Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 23:09:37 +0100 (MET) From: sos@FreeBSD.org To: jdp@polstra.com (John Polstra) Cc: sos@FreeBSD.org, gene@starkhome.cs.sunysb.edu, hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: SUP on sup.freebsd.org Message-ID: <199611062209.XAA02882@ravenock.cybercity.dk> In-Reply-To: <199611062031.MAA11245@austin.polstra.com> from "John Polstra" at Nov 6, 96 12:31:26 pm
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In reply to John Polstra who wrote:
>
> OK, so why on earth did I choose Modula-3? In no particular order:
>
> 1. I needed application level threads, and threads are an integral
> part of the Modula-3 language. About the only reasonable alternative
> was to use pthreads with C or C++. But pthreads was not well
> supported under FreeBSD at that time.
Hmm.
> 2. I needed a graphical display during development so that I could
> monitor the 3 client threads as they were running, debug them,
> appraise their relative performance, and find the bottlenecks.
> Modula-3 has a very nice toolkit for creating GUIs quickly and
> painlessly. (OK, so the scrollbars are as ugly as sin.)
Hmm, xforms? tcl/tk?
> 3. Modula-3 is a compiled language that is reasonably efficient.
Hmm, C?
> 4. I needed to use some low level system functions, e.g., mapping
> files into memory. Modula-3 provides good access to such functions,
> and it is quite easy to add interfaces to foreign libraries such
> as "libz".
Hmm, mmap?
> 5. Modula-3 has good support for networking.
Hmm, sockets?
> 6. It is a mature and stable language that has been used in a number
> of serious, large projects. The language and compiler have been
> stable for about 5 years, which is more than you can say for C++.
Hmm, C has been here for a _long_ time too...
> 7. It has nice support for object oriented programming, including a good
> type system, a nice exception model, and a modern high-performance
> garbage collector. These traits, IMHO, contribute powerfully to
> producing well-structured, maintainable programs.
Aiiigh...
> 8. I had just come off a huge 3+ year C++ project. During that time, I
> learned just how much C++ sucks. I did not feel like doing it again
> right away "for fun."
I wouldn't use C++ either, agreed on that one..
> 9. I have spent my entire professional career getting paid to use the
> wrong tools, because, e.g., the manager read that C++ was "popular."
> For once, just once, on a _hobby_ project, I decided I was going to use
> the tool I felt was the best for the job at hand. I thought about it
> long and hard, evaluated several options (C and C++ among them), and
> eventually chose Modula-3. I have never regretted that decision.
Ahh, thats it, change of environment, I'll buy that one.
> Any questions? :-)
Well, it won't matter won't it ? :)
I'm just getting a litte nervous about all the splendid new stuff
that we are collecting lately. One of the reasons I _love_ **IX
and BSD is that they have stayed on the KISS principle for so
long. As I se our route forward we are rapidly moving away from
that philosofi, and I think that is a shame. If I want big and
overengineered systems I get plenty at work form using Billyboys
systems there (allthough we are a UNIX shop :( )
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Søren Schmidt (sos@FreeBSD.org) FreeBSD Core Team
Even more code to hack -- will it ever end
..
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