Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.object
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!das-news2.harvard.edu!news2.near.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!rcm!rmartin
From: rmartin@rcmcon.com (Robert Martin)
Subject: Re: C++ Productivity
References: <1995Jan23.193745.7044@boole.com> <jim.fleming.84.00133AB6@bytes.com> 	<1995Jan25.201226.28856@rcmcon.com> <DAVIDM.95Jan31100536@halfdome.prism.kla.com>
Organization: R. C. M. Consulting Inc. 708-918-1004
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 1995 16:56:16 GMT
Message-ID: <1995Feb3.165616.2667@rcmcon.com>
Lines: 48
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.c++:110772 comp.lang.smalltalk:20307 comp.object:26063

davidm@prism.kla.com (David S. Masterson) writes:

>>>>>> "Robert" == Robert Martin <rmartin@rcmcon.com> writes:

>[...on the choice of C++ over other languages...]

>> You may argue that the choice is uninformed, but that is counter to my
>> experience.  Many of the people that I work with who have chosen C++
>> have done so for sound reasons.  You may argue that the decision was
>> forced upon them by some kind of "Czar" but that's just conspiracy
>> theory.  C++ is where it is today because it caught the popular
>> attention, and then was found to be useful.

>Question:

>What percentage of the people you've worked with chose C++ after using one of
>the other object-oriented languages (Eiffel, Objective-C, CLOS...)?  And of
>those that have changed to C++, what percentage chose C++ because "that's
>where the market is" (ie. availability of environments)?

>I don't believe in a C++ "czar" either, but there is the snowball theory to
>consider...

A few.  Certainly not the majority.  The majority chose C++ without
every working with another OOPL.  But most did not make this choice
blindly.  They read the materials and looked at the industry and felt
that C++ was the most appropriate choice for them.

Yes, there is a snowball theory, and it is much harder to refute than
the "Czar" theory.  I think the snowball is a good analogy.  What
makes the volume of the snowball increase at an exponential rate?  Its
rapidly increasing surface area.  What holds the snowball together?
The cohesion of individual water crystals.  The same mechanism that
holds it together when it is small, holds it together when it is
large.  The nature of the snowball doesn't change.

When do snowballs fail to form?  When the cohesion of the ice crystals
is lower than a certain threshold, or there is not enough snow to
counterbalance the forces of friction, erosion, and melting, or there
is no way for the snowball to gain engergy by rolling.  (i.e. it is
not on a hill).


-- 
Robert Martin       | Design Consulting   | Training courses offered:
Object Mentor Assoc.| rmartin@rcmcon.com  |   Object Oriented Analysis
2080 Cranbrook Rd.  | Tel: (708) 918-1004 |   Object Oriented Design
Green Oaks IL 60048 | Fax: (708) 918-1023 |   C++
