Posted on 08/04/2010 10:58:19 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Hey, there are always those that need help - thank goodness... or the rest of us would need work!
Really, it is a shame that almost 80% of calls for help are for such stupid reasons that their teenager could solve...
Maybe we should be teaching adults more about computers.
“The problem in C (et al) is the concept of an “data-bounded” string, ie, the NULL termination of strings.”
Yes, this is a common problem - a programming problem that later programmers expect compilers to correct. It is too bad that bad programmers have given this problem its name.
And no, most programmers today have no idea how to code the segment in assembly language - after all, that is what high level languages are about. Don’t expect that schools teach assembly equivalent to these high level language students.
“Being that C is little more than a high-level assembler, there is little to no checking of constraints at run time, because there are few constraints encoded in the source.”
Very TRUE! That is exactly “C” or “C++” is still in vogue. It retains the ability to go low level where most high level languages do not.
“There is no run-time array bounds checking in C and C-derived languages unless you add in the facility yourself.”
Sorry, that is a Compiler problem and has been much improved in recent years - not like my younger days.
“Ada provides run-time constraint checking; when you try to overwrite the end of strings, the run time system throws an exception.”
Yes, but it does add overhead and sometimes poor compilation but what the heck, it’s a government issue... Of course, it does not allow the lower level handling that is built into C either...
“What Ada brings to the table is strong type checking, strong run time checking and strong exception handling. For a C programmer converting to Ada, getting his first program to compile and link is like getting a root canal.”
Sorry, that is a programmer problem that your are describing, not a language issue...
“When you develop with Ada, the compiler barks at you again and again,”
Of course, what you are saying is that as a programmer, you need Compiler help in creating the correct code because you are not up to speed...
“I’ve developed s/w for more than 25 years, in over a dozen languages and on a dozen+ operating systems.”
Well, then I would expect that you could program in any language with problems - no need to the compiler to catch your laziness...
By the way... I have programmed in Ada and thought it much like Pascal. High level and limited but easy to program.
You have obviously never worked on a large software project.
Get back to me when you’ve been a senior contributor on a project with more than 10 MLOC and you’ve had to meet deadlines.
Heh, that is really funny... Almost all of my work has been with a team of 10 to 20 programmers (telecommunications) - every time in C or C++. Signal to Noise test equipment (smaller programming projects) to voice and data switches with major companies.
That is okay though, I expect that your small world had grand ideas and never brought a product to market... failure is always an option ya know.
Really, DON’T pretend you know what the hell is going on in this world, you are a small part of it, as I am (very small from a programming point), and you really need to realize that. You pretend to understand things that you do not, but that is okay as long as you don’t push it, but really, get a grip!
Oh, and I WAS the Senior Programmer or later on, Manager on many of those projects! you ass...
Since you are wondering and checking - try this...
Datapoint, Digital Switch, Ant Telecommunications and JDS Uniphase, all use to be big companies in Telecommunications.
I worked for all of these companies mostly in telecommunications and programming. What companies did you work for that produced millions of lines of code?
I really would like to know what companies that you have worked for since it seems that you are involved in MLOC projects. Would also like to know if they succeeded...
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