Newsgroups: comp.lang.dylan
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From: edwards@world.std.com (Jonathan Edwards)
Subject: Re: Dylan macro facility (or lack of it)
Message-ID: <D4D1wK.J8M@world.std.com>
Organization: IntraNet, Inc.
References: <7700.9502170314@subnode.aiai.ed.ac.uk> <9502170601.AA12785@uma.ori.hitachi-sk.co.jp> <3ibv2f$cnu@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> <creedy-2102951015190001@clreedy-mac.mitre.org>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 17:29:08 GMT
Lines: 38

In article <creedy-2102951015190001@clreedy-mac.mitre.org>,
Chris Reedy <creedy@mitre.org> wrote:
>In article <3ibv2f$cnu@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>, berglas@cs.uq.oz.au wrote:
>
>> Real macros are important.
>> 
>> I think that it is important to realize that C++ is THE world standard
>> langauge.
>
>Every study I have ever seen states that there are more COBOL programmers
>and more lines of code in COBOL than all other programming languages
>combined.  It seems to me that there is a large marketplace for a
>programming language that would provide the benefits of OO to COBOL
>programmers without the baggage that comes with C/C++ (e.g. programmer
>management of dynamic memory).  As best as I can tell right now, the
>language that is currently trying to address this marketplace is
>SmallTalk.

Indeed it is the Cobol world that offers the ripest pickings in the software
development world today. Dylan seems to have been orginally conceived as
a competitor to C++ for the mass-market horizontal apps (spreadsheets, etc).
That is a tough battle to win - C++ is highly entrenched, and the market is
not really growing very fast (just boring double-digit percentages!).
It is the large-scale low-market/custom applications that are really up for
grabs. Cobol has historically dominated this market. But Cobol is dying -
and there is no good replacement for it yet. Smalltalk is best positioned
to take advantage of this opportunity, but has some historical baggage of its
own to carry. I wonder if Dylan's real competitor should be seen as Smalltalk
rather than C++.

Back to the thread, I am looking at writing a Cobol-> Smalltalk or Dylan
translator. Macros are not required for this, but would make it
a much more pleasant experience.

-- 
Jonathan Edwards				edwards@intranet.com
IntraNet, Inc					617-527-7020
One Gateway Center				FAX: 617-527-6779
