> But progress will never come if we don't actually point out when=20
something is wrong.

IMO 'wrong' is the wrong term. With the current knowledge and state of=20
the art (including hardware), we can discuss about what would be correct=20
choice now. That is not the same as 'XX got it wrong', much less "XX=20
should be different'.

> BTW "Ada" (MIL-STD-1815A) never made it because the compilers cost a
> fortune and they needed to be certified by the DoD in order to be used
> (they owned the trademark). You had to keep your compilers up to date
> (yearly) unless you got a special dispensation (because it would delay
> a critical project) and again that cost more money.

IIRC GNAT (GCC Ada) was available at a time when Ada was still a much bette=
r language than C++ (I think that is no longer the case now).


 > BTW BTW isn't Python (a new language that does things more or less=20
right) collecting a
 > big user base - yourself included if I'm not mistaken :-)

Some reasons for Pythons succes:
- the predecessor(s) (ABC - I had a lessons about it from its inventor=20
in a language design course!) did NOT become widely accepted, so some of=20
the mistakes made could be corrected
- it was AND STILL IS very much a one-man affair (the langage, not the=20
implementations) and that man happens to be very good
- when it emerged there was a big gaping hole in the language ecosystem:=20
a language that exploits the hughe speed (and memory size) gap between=20
wat a CPU can do and what most users need

And even Python got some things wrong (check the 2.x to 3.0 step).

The problem with C/C++ is that it is good enough: the gap in that part=20
of the language ecosystem (highe efficiency & low level programming) is=20
not (yet?) large enough for a new language to survive. If stroustroup=20
had not based his language on C it would have been a better language,=20
but it would have been less successfull.

Wouter
--=20
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