On Tue, May 9, 2017 at 10:02 AM askoh <askoh@askoh.com> wrote:
This is a quote from Bob Martin of "Clean Code" fame. Enjoy, Aik-Siong Koh

http://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2016/05/01/TypeWars.html



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View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/Smalltalkers-will-eventually-win-So-says-this-old-C-programmer-tp4945895.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.


There is no war, nowadays you can mix languages together with ease, pick the one you prefer and do not make it a big deal.Personally I am indifferent when it comes to types, do not care if I declare them or not.��

Furthermore the choice of a language is 99% its libraries why bother with the 1%. If the library you want is on Smalltalk you will pick Smalltalk sadly C++ wins here with its vastness of libraries that have allowed such an ugly language ��to exist for so long.��

I do not see why its necessary for the type to be embedded in the language why not be meta data using a popular format like JSON and that will give you the freedom to limit the types or not depending on the situation.

I love the smalltalk attitude of shifting the focus from the language to the libraries and IDE. A gigantic syntax like C++ is a gigantic problem.��

But to be fair C++ has come a long way, smart pointers have lifted the pain of manual memory management, templates have helped with implementing dynamic types. There is also a lot of talk of replacing the header system with a module system like python. So C++ is definitely evolving. The game engine I am using Unreal C++ has even further boosted the language not only by using templates to offer dynamism but also offers manual GC and a limited reflection system.��

However the source of the popularity of C++ has been Microsoft and Microsoft has been pushing a lot lately of its own language C# more aggressively lately by open sourcing .NET and investing on cross platform development.�� C++ will of course keep being the choice of top performance apps and libraries. When a new feature in C++ performance comes first because that where the language focus on. We have a different goal.��

So no I do not think Smalltalk will ever win on this one when it comes to performance C++ has demonstrated that its syntax though very problematic and quite annoying , it still is the No 1 choice. ��