Newbie: The C / C++ Issue

[Louis LeBlanc]

I hate to seem like a jerk, but I get these messages through the list
already, and see no reason to get them in multiple boxes.  Please feel
free to continue this discussion on list, but please take this email
out of the recipients list.  I will join in when I am able.  Granted
that doesn't guarantee I'll agree with everyone, but then it wouldn't
be much of a discussion, would it? :)

Cheers.
Lou
On 11/13/03 11:42 AM, Chris Pressey sat at the `puter and typed:
> On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 11:01:54 -0800
> "abowhill" <abowhill at blarg.net> wrote:
> 
> > > Am I missing something here?  When does C have OO capability?
> > > Structs don't count.  What about inheritance and polymorphism?
> > 
> > >>That's in the implementation AND application.  Just because you CAN
> > >>access part of a lowly struct, doesn't mean you have to.  It's
> > >object>oriented if you OBSERVE the restricted accesses defined by OO.
> > >>Whether or not they're there is completely irrelevant.  Of course C
> > >>has OO capability, it just doesn't have its restrictions :)
> > 
> > The idea that C can be used to do object-oriented programming is 
> > a myth. The C language is not object-oriented or even object-based.
> > The big reason C++ is object-oriented is due to dynamic binding.
> 
> I don't think I buy that.  With that reasoning, couldn't you say that
> any program in any language that does any sort of dynamic binding (for
> example, opening a .so file) "is object-oriented"?
> 
> The way I see it is that object-orientation is a methodology, and
> languages aren't methodologies, so it's absurd to say that some language
> "is" or "isn't" object-oriented.  (I mean, we all know that the Bourne
> shell "is object-oriented,"[1] right? :)  The best you can do is to
> describe the degree to which some language supports or enforces
> object-oriented programming.  Incidental to that, C++ provides many
> abstractions which support object-oriented programming, while not
> enforcing them in any way.
> 
> But this is getting far off topic for this list; the bare facts remain:
> 
> - much of FreeBSD (kernel, userland) is written in C
> - many FreeBSD ports are written in C++
> 
> So, as stated several times now, it really depends on what you want to
> work on.
> 
> -Chris
> 
> [1]
> http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/bos94/haemer.html
> 
> 

-- 
Louis LeBlanc               leblanc at keyslapper.org
Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬

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