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Advice from Bjarne Stroustrup

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  • R Offline
    R Offline
    raddevus
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Bjarne Stroustrup:

    [1] Don’t panic! All will become clear in time; §2.1. [2] You don’t have to know every detail of C++ to write good programs; §1.3.1. [3] Focus on programming techniques, not on language features; §2.1.

    That's from the great book, The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition[^] In general, it is very good advice for devs. Don't panic. So true in many situations. You don't have to know every detail. Just do something! :) Don't get caught up on language features, learn good techniques. :thumbsup:

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    • R raddevus

      Bjarne Stroustrup:

      [1] Don’t panic! All will become clear in time; §2.1. [2] You don’t have to know every detail of C++ to write good programs; §1.3.1. [3] Focus on programming techniques, not on language features; §2.1.

      That's from the great book, The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition[^] In general, it is very good advice for devs. Don't panic. So true in many situations. You don't have to know every detail. Just do something! :) Don't get caught up on language features, learn good techniques. :thumbsup:

      F Offline
      F Offline
      Forogar
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Quote:

      You don't have to know every detail. Just do something!

      Very true. If you try and learn every little nook and cranny of a language you will spend inordinate amounts of time on trivial and hardly used features to the detriment of actually becoming skilled and fluent in the main parts used 99% of the time.

      - I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.

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      • R raddevus

        Bjarne Stroustrup:

        [1] Don’t panic! All will become clear in time; §2.1. [2] You don’t have to know every detail of C++ to write good programs; §1.3.1. [3] Focus on programming techniques, not on language features; §2.1.

        That's from the great book, The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition[^] In general, it is very good advice for devs. Don't panic. So true in many situations. You don't have to know every detail. Just do something! :) Don't get caught up on language features, learn good techniques. :thumbsup:

        L Offline
        L Offline
        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I think [3] is the most important, even I would title it "design techniques". Personally I'm big fan of [Niklaus Wirth - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklaus\_Wirth), not because he is swiss ;P but because he did some fantastic Basic develpment work in building Compilers and languages.

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        • L Lost User

          I think [3] is the most important, even I would title it "design techniques". Personally I'm big fan of [Niklaus Wirth - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklaus\_Wirth), not because he is swiss ;P but because he did some fantastic Basic develpment work in building Compilers and languages.

          R Offline
          R Offline
          raddevus
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          0x01AA wrote:

          big fan of Niklaus Wirth

          Me too. I recently bought his book, Algorithms + Data Structures = programs[^] , at a second hand store. Yes, recently. The book is foundational and can be read now. :) The stuff in that old book is the real OOP. He was working stuff out in there and it still applies to real OOP. Very cool. He was the creator of Pascal too, right?

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          • R raddevus

            0x01AA wrote:

            big fan of Niklaus Wirth

            Me too. I recently bought his book, Algorithms + Data Structures = programs[^] , at a second hand store. Yes, recently. The book is foundational and can be read now. :) The stuff in that old book is the real OOP. He was working stuff out in there and it still applies to real OOP. Very cool. He was the creator of Pascal too, right?

            M Offline
            M Offline
            MarkTJohnson
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Yep and capitalized Pascal known as MODULA 2

            R H 2 Replies Last reply
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            • M MarkTJohnson

              Yep and capitalized Pascal known as MODULA 2

              R Offline
              R Offline
              raddevus
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Interesting. Looked up Modula 2 on wiki and I'm reading that. Thanks,

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              • R raddevus

                0x01AA wrote:

                big fan of Niklaus Wirth

                Me too. I recently bought his book, Algorithms + Data Structures = programs[^] , at a second hand store. Yes, recently. The book is foundational and can be read now. :) The stuff in that old book is the real OOP. He was working stuff out in there and it still applies to real OOP. Very cool. He was the creator of Pascal too, right?

                L Offline
                L Offline
                Lost User
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                "Pascal": Yes Pascal was developed by Mr. Wirth and his team "Old book is real OOP": At least after further development from Pascal to Modula 2 (with which I worked several years in production before a lot of years) he introduced essential concepts of data hiding. I would not call it complete OOP, but an important part of it. The bigest part I learned from his scripts are related to parser/compiler development, keyword "compiler compiler coco". Note 1: Google for ony "coco" is not recommended in public ;) Of course I tested this to warn you ;P Note 2: @CP: Preview of Messages is still a mess :(

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                • R raddevus

                  Bjarne Stroustrup:

                  [1] Don’t panic! All will become clear in time; §2.1. [2] You don’t have to know every detail of C++ to write good programs; §1.3.1. [3] Focus on programming techniques, not on language features; §2.1.

                  That's from the great book, The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition[^] In general, it is very good advice for devs. Don't panic. So true in many situations. You don't have to know every detail. Just do something! :) Don't get caught up on language features, learn good techniques. :thumbsup:

                  R Offline
                  R Offline
                  R Giskard Reventlov
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  1: advice I live by... except now! There's a spider in my code!!! Aghhhhhhh!!! 2: I've found the worst developers are the ones that know everything there is to know about the language and absolutely bugger all about developing apps that people can actually use! 3: Indeed.

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                  • R R Giskard Reventlov

                    1: advice I live by... except now! There's a spider in my code!!! Aghhhhhhh!!! 2: I've found the worst developers are the ones that know everything there is to know about the language and absolutely bugger all about developing apps that people can actually use! 3: Indeed.

                    R Offline
                    R Offline
                    raddevus
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    R. Giskard Reventlov wrote:

                    everything there is to know about the language and absolutely bugger all about developing apps that people can actually use!

                    agreed. They often have multiple certifications. :laugh:

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                    • R raddevus

                      0x01AA wrote:

                      big fan of Niklaus Wirth

                      Me too. I recently bought his book, Algorithms + Data Structures = programs[^] , at a second hand store. Yes, recently. The book is foundational and can be read now. :) The stuff in that old book is the real OOP. He was working stuff out in there and it still applies to real OOP. Very cool. He was the creator of Pascal too, right?

                      D Offline
                      D Offline
                      den2k88
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      Thanks for reminding me the author, couldn't find anything on the web (I have fragmentary memories of the title in italian and search engines suck).

                      * CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF * GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X * Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game. * I'm a puny punmaker.

                      L 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • R raddevus

                        Bjarne Stroustrup:

                        [1] Don’t panic! All will become clear in time; §2.1. [2] You don’t have to know every detail of C++ to write good programs; §1.3.1. [3] Focus on programming techniques, not on language features; §2.1.

                        That's from the great book, The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition[^] In general, it is very good advice for devs. Don't panic. So true in many situations. You don't have to know every detail. Just do something! :) Don't get caught up on language features, learn good techniques. :thumbsup:

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        Super Lloyd
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Hi! It's clear where he copied #1 from! Though he forgot the towel. It's just not the same thing without a towel!

                        A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                        R 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • L Lost User

                          I think [3] is the most important, even I would title it "design techniques". Personally I'm big fan of [Niklaus Wirth - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklaus\_Wirth), not because he is swiss ;P but because he did some fantastic Basic develpment work in building Compilers and languages.

                          D Offline
                          D Offline
                          David Crow
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          0x01AA wrote:

                          Personally I'm big fan of Niklaus Wirth

                          I met him, along with Edsger Dijkstra, back in 1990.

                          "One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

                          "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

                          "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles

                          K 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • R raddevus

                            Bjarne Stroustrup:

                            [1] Don’t panic! All will become clear in time; §2.1. [2] You don’t have to know every detail of C++ to write good programs; §1.3.1. [3] Focus on programming techniques, not on language features; §2.1.

                            That's from the great book, The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition[^] In general, it is very good advice for devs. Don't panic. So true in many situations. You don't have to know every detail. Just do something! :) Don't get caught up on language features, learn good techniques. :thumbsup:

                            S Offline
                            S Offline
                            Slacker007
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            and of course, this can be translated to almost anything in life, not just C++. :thumbsup:

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • S Super Lloyd

                              Hi! It's clear where he copied #1 from! Though he forgot the towel. It's just not the same thing without a towel!

                              A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                              R Offline
                              R Offline
                              raddevus
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Super Lloyd wrote:

                              It's clear where he copied #1 from!

                              You are correct. The next chapter starts on the next page after that advice and includes the quote from Hitchhiker's.

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                              • M MarkTJohnson

                                Yep and capitalized Pascal known as MODULA 2

                                H Offline
                                H Offline
                                Hooga Booga
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                I actually used Modula-2 in school. My Prof said it was the up and coming language.

                                Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx

                                Y 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • D David Crow

                                  0x01AA wrote:

                                  Personally I'm big fan of Niklaus Wirth

                                  I met him, along with Edsger Dijkstra, back in 1990.

                                  "One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

                                  "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

                                  "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles

                                  K Offline
                                  K Offline
                                  kalberts
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Makes me think of a colleague of mine in the mid 80s. He is a DBMS man and a regular visitor to the VLDB (Very Large Data Bases) conference, and was for several years trying to get close to the great DBMS guru Jim Gray, hoping to touch his coat. Then one day, Gray came striding directly towards him with a big grin on his face: "Hi, is it so that you are a Norwegian? I know of no people more fun to get drunk with than Norwegians! Come along!" Now the two became close personal friends for the rest of Grey's life, so there is nothing to be sad about. But I guess lots of people would get shocked if the first thing their idol says directly to them is "Come, let's get drunk together!" :-)

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                                  • L Lost User

                                    "Pascal": Yes Pascal was developed by Mr. Wirth and his team "Old book is real OOP": At least after further development from Pascal to Modula 2 (with which I worked several years in production before a lot of years) he introduced essential concepts of data hiding. I would not call it complete OOP, but an important part of it. The bigest part I learned from his scripts are related to parser/compiler development, keyword "compiler compiler coco". Note 1: Google for ony "coco" is not recommended in public ;) Of course I tested this to warn you ;P Note 2: @CP: Preview of Messages is still a mess :(

                                    U Offline
                                    U Offline
                                    User 11938220
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Now I feel *really, really* old. I was learning this craft back when both of those languages (and Ada which is also a descendant) were new. We used stone knives and bear claws back then (to paraphrase Dr. McCoy).

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                                    • U User 11938220

                                      Now I feel *really, really* old. I was learning this craft back when both of those languages (and Ada which is also a descendant) were new. We used stone knives and bear claws back then (to paraphrase Dr. McCoy).

                                      W Offline
                                      W Offline
                                      wheelman570z
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      Member 11971640 wrote:

                                      We used stone knives and bear claws back then (to paraphrase Dr. McCoy).

                                      Nope, It was stone knives and bear skins as quoted from Mr. Spock in the "City on the Edge of Forever". BTW: I feel equally old, I was learning C on my own while using Modula 2 on an IBM 4381 mainframe in the mid 80s. I hate Pascal, it's a fascist language if you ask me.

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                                      • H Hooga Booga

                                        I actually used Modula-2 in school. My Prof said it was the up and coming language.

                                        Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. -- Groucho Marx

                                        Y Offline
                                        Y Offline
                                        YaakovF
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        I actually worked in Modula-2 for 10 years. Very clean language, easy to work with. Sad to say, we changed languages when we moved from DOS to Windows in 1996.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • D den2k88

                                          Thanks for reminding me the author, couldn't find anything on the web (I have fragmentary memories of the title in italian and search engines suck).

                                          * CALL APOGEE, SAY AARDWOLF * GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X * Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game. * I'm a puny punmaker.

                                          L Offline
                                          L Offline
                                          Ludovik
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          You know folks, all of the latest versions of Professor Wirth's books are freely downloadable from Wirth's pages at the website of ETH Zürich (the Confederate Technical University of Switzerland at Zürich). Prof. Niklaus Wirth (ret'd.)[^] The latest edition of 'Algorithms and Data Structures' as it is now more simply called uses Wirth's OO language, Oberon, which builds on the earlier Pascal & Modula-2. There's also an Oberon-powered mini-PC similar to the Raspberry Pi running around somewhere, IIRC.

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