Time for a new programming language paradigm

[rjmoses]

Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:

Plus, in my opinion, the ability to see on screen without scrolling the maximum amount of logic is paramount in writing good systems. The eyes move orders of magnitude faster than scrolling. I have seen some beautifully written, well documented code that was nearly impossible to trouble shoot for all the novel in the code.

I have seen all too much code that took most the screen to display a simple concept. E.g., if ( a = b ) { c = d; } else { if ( p == q ) q = r; }; This coder use spacing to up his LOC/day count. Comprehension....well...that leaves a lot to be desired. And I agree about beautifully written code. I saw a 1000 character program written in one line with no white space. Couldn't begin to understand what it was doing.

Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:

So I had a lot of practice spotting poorly placed operators. I would much rather spend one day every other year looking for a misplaced semi-colon than spend the time adding verbosity.

If there is time, and no pressure, a misplaced semi-colon isn't a problem. But, add pressure, such as commodities trading, and you have 2 minutes to find and fix the bug, well....pass the Maalox please.

[PIEBALDconsult]

Let's see.. there must be a relevant XKDC... oh, yeah, this'll do: http://xkcd.com/927/[^] :-D Such language should not be English-centric like most of today's languages; rather each developer should be able to view and edit the code in his own chosen language. (And formatted as the individual likes as well.) In fact, I think a new language should be XML-based with the IDE applying styling and such as specified by the user. :-D Of course, I would never use such a language, I'd stick with good old C#.

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

[rjmoses]

I just did my 29th update to Firefox the other day. It took me about 3 hours to get it back to where it was. Windows 7 keeps bugging about "New updates are ready to install". And Adobe Acrobat keeps crashing.... My point is: How can the programming process be improved? Such that we don't have 29 versions of FF? Or weekly updates ready to be installed. Or "Should a crash report be sent..."?

[Lost User]

I'm pretty sure that you implied that I was cruel a while back when I was teasing Pete... I sir, am not even in your league! I bow in your presence. :cool:

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington

[Chris Maunder]

:cool:

cheers Chris Maunder

[BobJanova]

This is a major rant I have about default (e.g. StyleCop) formatting conventions. They waste so much space that you can't actually see what the code does.

[PIEBALDconsult]

Yes, well a bare equal-sign should be an error; assignment should be with :=, a la Pascal and others.

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

[snorkie]

Sounds like you really just want a compiler to be more helpful with errors. Tools like Resharper help with this in Visual Studio! Hogan

[PIEBALDconsult]

(Not everyone uses Visual Studio.)

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

[CPallini]

Programming languages are not for sissies.

Veni, vidi, vici.

[snorkie]

If it was easy, everybody could it it! But on a more serious note, not using Visual Studio is a choice... For the hourly costs of developers (at least in the US), its worth the money to equip people with the best tools to accomplish work. And before going off on costs, there are free versions of VS. Hogan

[snorkie]

Sounds like a reason to requisition a larger monitor[^] :laugh:

[PIEBALDconsult]

Eddy Vluggen wrote:

rjmoses wrote:

2. The language should be portable.

It's not the language that decides on what platforms it will be implemented. VB6 will never appear on Linux without starting a major war.

Every language* is portable, but not every language gets ported everywhere. * With the possible exception of the various assembly languages, but I suspect that even they could be compiled for a system they weren't intended for, perhaps with some limitations, but I'm no expert on that.

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

[PIEBALDconsult]

snorkie wrote:

not using Visual Studio is a choice

Exactly.

snorkie wrote:

the best tools

What's that got to do with Visual Studio? :-D Seriously, I use Visual Studio when I need to, but not when I don't. I have Ultimate at work and Express at home. Use the right tool for the right job.

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

[PIEBALDconsult]

Didn't he say it was a BASH script? Isn't that Klingon?

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

[CPallini]

At most he was.

Veni, vidi, vici.

[Colborne_Greg]

After two decades of cobol I am ready to chuck it out the window

[Colborne_Greg]

20 years of programming in Cobol, C++, and html The language that meets your requirements is Visual Basic 2013. Everything that C++ can do Visual Basic 2013 can do. Here is an example of code, with no documentation, lets see if you can figure out what it does.

Public Interface iArray(Of someType)
Event ItemAdded(ByRef Item As someType)

Sub AddRange(Range() As someType)
Function Clear() As someType()
Property Collected() As someType()
Function Count() As Int64
Property Item(Index As Int64) As someType

WriteOnly Property NewItem() As someType
WriteOnly Property NewItems As someType()
Property Populated As Boolean
Function LastIndex() As Int64

End Interface
<Serializable>
Partial Public Class Array(Of SomeType)
Implements iArray(Of SomeType)

Private mCollected() As SomeType
Private mPopulated As Boolean


Public Event ItemAdded(ByRef Item As SomeType) Implements iArray(Of SomeType).ItemAdded


Public Property Collected() As SomeType() Implements iArray(Of SomeType).Collected
    Get
        If mCollected Is Nothing Then mCollected = New SomeType() {}
        Return mCollected
    End Get
    Set(value As SomeType())
        mCollected = value
    End Set
End Property

Public Sub AddRange(Range() As SomeType) Implements iArray(Of SomeType).AddRange
    Allocate(Collected, Range)
    Populated = True
End Sub
Public Shared Function Allocate(ByRef TheArray() As SomeType, ByVal Value As SomeType) As SomeType()
    Return Allocate(TheArray, Value, LastIndexOf(TheArray))
End Function
Public Shared Function Allocate(ByRef TheArray() As SomeType, ByVal Values() As SomeType) As SomeType()
    Return Allocate(TheArray, Values, LastIndexOf(TheArray))
End Function
Public Shared Function Allocate(ByRef TheArray() As SomeType, ByVal Values() As SomeType, ByRef Index As Int64) As SomeType()
    Try
        For Current As Int64 = 0 To Values.Length - 1
            Allocate(TheArray, Values(Current), Index + Current)
        Next
    Catch
    End Try
    Return TheArray
End Function
Public Shared Function Allocate(ByRef TheArray() As SomeType, ByVal Value As SomeType, ByRef Index As Int64) As SomeType()
    Try
        TheArray(Index) = Value
    Catch
        ReDim Preserve TheArray(Index)
        TheArray(Index) = Value
    End Try

    Return TheArray

[BillWoodruff]

I think it's time for you to move forward from living in the late Paleolithic in terms of developer tools to the modern era where superb tools like .NET's compiler, Visual Studio, and add-ons like ReSharper, help make coding much more efficient. It's always going to be a "Tower of Bable" out there, in the real world. But, if you enjoy living without the wheel, fine.

“I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that we may make from the miserable circumstances of our lives things that are eternal, or aspire to be so.” Jorge Luis Borges

[Andy Brummer]

How long have you been waiting to trot that one out? That frickin' awesome.

Curvature of the Mind now with 3D