Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.object,comp.lang.smalltalk
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!noc.near.net!ray.com!news.ray.com!rayssd!jarsun1!drd!mark
From: mark@drd.com (Mark.Lawrence)
Subject: Re: Teaching OO
Message-ID: <1995Jan12.184452.21766@drd.com>
Organization: DRD Corporation
References: <3evfec$5ah@nova.umd.edu> <3evjp1$13fg@news-s01.ny.us.ibm.net> <1995Jan11.143449.24323@rcmcon.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 18:44:52 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.c++:108322 comp.object:25302 comp.lang.smalltalk:19704

rmartin@rcmcon.com and bfelton@ibm.net are having a discussion which can
be partially summed up as a disagreement over what is more important --
programming towards 'use' or 'reuse':

Bill:
>>and, yes, reuse.  But reuse last.

Bob:
>I disagree. 

I suggest that reuse and use as imperatives have costs which have to be
balanced in the less than perfect production milieus that I always find
myself in.  OO, as a development methodology helps me focus on both but
one byproduct is that re-use is less costly to achieve than it would be
otherwise.  In my mind, its the age old balancing act between what I have
to deliver short-term to generate revenue to pay the bills against what I
should be paying attention to long-term to keep my maintenance costs as
low as possible.  There is no fixed answer -- it always "depends".
-- 
We are all faced with magnificent opportunities 
brilliantly disguised as impossible situations --  Charles Swindoll

Mark.Lawrence@DRD.Com DRD Corporation 5506 South Lewis Ave. Tulsa OK 74105-7105
