[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[jls]

On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:48:02 -0400, "Richard B. Gilbert"
<rgilbert88 at comcast.net> wrote:

>Bob Koehler wrote:
>> In article <7ire14F32vm9nU2 at mid.individual.net>, billg999 at cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes:
>>> And once again we blame the language for the incompetence (or just plain
>>> laziness) of the programmers.
>> 
>>    That's like blaiming the carpenter who loses his hand to a circular
>>    saw without a blade guard.  The saw should have had the blade guard.
>> 
>
>Yes but the carpenter should not have used a power saw without a blade 
>guard.  You may remove or disable blade guards for your convenience but 
>if you do you deserve whatever happens to you.

The analogy between C programming and the blade guard on the saw would
make sense to me if we agreed that C programming "guards" are similar
to me buying a saw, but having to build my own blade guard to keep
safe.

In the saw's blade guard example, though, the company that makes the
saw designs and implements the blade guard on the product.  There is
no such thing for C programming, and instead everyone is left to
implement their own safeguards.