Re: 4gl: Better than sliced bread?

Bill Foote write:- > stuff deleted > > That's the key. No decent C programmer would ever *consider* doing > it from scratch. He'd either buy a library that does it, or write > it once, and put it in a library. Then he gets the productivity > gain of having OPEN WINDOW et al., and he doesn't have to suffer through > some of 4GL's shortcomings. Yes but what is 4GL if it is not one large C library presented in a fashion that allows non C programmers to use it. What does 4GL do - it precompiles down to C!! Yes 4GL is not the best thing for all jobs and it does lack some functions that we would like but it works, it is reasonably bug free and has been steadily extended to answer the complaints that people have about it. 4GL++ is to be available shortly and this should deal with many of the remaining gripes while "hopefully!"" remaining reasonably compatible with the current language. Why pay large sums of money for C programmers when you can buy a C library and code from it using a reasonable meta language which most any programmers can pick up and use. Not only that but I can library my 4GL code along with additional libraries of C code and combine the lot into whatever I require. I take a general view. You use the tool best suited for the job whether that is C, 4GL, PERL, C++, shell doesnt matter. What is best depends on the costs. But remember the cost is not just the development cost. Maintenance and enhancement is where your cost really goes up. It is a waste of money to write in C and then spend time and effort maintaining that code if it can be maintained more cheaply in a language (whichever) that is easier to read and understand. > > That said, I concede that 4GL could well be a good tool that helps to write > a certain class of applications. It's also probably easier to use than > C in some senses, and almost surely easier to pick up than C. But I > still like C better! (I also think that Forth is kinda neat, so maybe > there's no hope for me :-) None. Its too late you have become a C guru and there is no hope! Sorry. :-))) Cheers - Jim -------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Jim Gordon Internet: jgordon@ssf-sys.DHL.COM Company: DHL Systems Inc Phone: (415) 358-5911 (Work) Address: 1700 S. Amphlett Blvd. (415) 882-9728 (Home) San Mateo, CA 94402 Fax: (415) 571-6429 --------------------------------------------------------------------