[Info-vax] Programming languages on VMS

[John Reagan]

On Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 10:36:04 AM UTC-5, DaveFroble wrote:

> 
> John, you know a bit about languages.  Let me ask a question.
> 
> I'll preface the question by admitting that I view much of the "new languages" 
> as some people who just want to "re-invent the wheel".
> 
> Do the "new languages" actually present more and better capabilities?
> 

My opinion isn't any "better" than others here.  However, if you want me to pontificate about languages, why not?

Languages are tools.  Somebody, like my Dad, has one comfortable hammer, a screwdriver, a roll of duct tape and makes those work.  Others, like myself, own 6 different hammers (and a whole metric-buttload of tools) and can often stare at my toolbox looking for just the "right" screwdriver.  I'm not sure who is faster, me or my Dad.

Some languages let you spend your time thinking about higher-level things instead of "did I overwrite a buffer with my last attempt at concatenating a string?"  Some make you think about data.  Some make you think about control-flow or parallelism.  Some make you think.  Some keep you from thinking.

That said, I like to view things in an object-oriented model.  It helps me think about the data.  For me, it all started with Hypercard and Hypertalk on the Mac.

Do I like C++?  Well, I tolerate C++ and find many of its features very helpful, but there are sharp edges.  

Do I like Java?  Fixes many of the C++ issues but does piss off former C++ programmers who don't like more stuff in the way.  

I like Perl.  I find Python interesting but I don't get all the hype.  

Conceptually I like Rust and would like to use it someday.  Lua seems interesting also.  That said, there is nothing like old-school APL for a certain set of problems.  

I wouldn't do currency manipulation in anything but COBOL.  I've seen too many people get it wrong when trying to do it in another language.

And of course, I have a warm spot in my heart for Ada and Pascal.