ramsey (03/21/83)
#N:inmet:4700004:000:2231
inmet!ramsey Mar 19 20:25:00 1983
In my opinion, compilers are holdovers from the dark ages of computing when
a system was only capable of performing one task at a time. There is no
longer any excuse for not providing us overworked programmers with a proper
development environment. BASIC, APL, LISP ... implementations generally
provide a better environment than those available for C, Pascal, Ada ... .
Rather than arguing about the merits of BASIC, we should instead be asking
why no one seems to be willing to provide a proper set of tools for
developing programs in 'modern' languages. We should be able to write our C
programs using a syntax directed editor with integrated incremental compiler
and debugger. We should be able to create easily accessible libraries of
reusable software components and associated documentation. Languages should
now reflect the fact that we edit them on 2-dimensional screens rather than
on teletypes or punch cards (indentation is much more readable than { } or
begin end).
I once worked for a company that used a dialect of the FORTH language for
developing business applications. The FORTH language has many problems
(often, half of the code in a routine is devoted to moving things around on
the stack so you can get at them), however, their development environment had
many of the features described above. Productivity was amazing as it was
extremely convenient to reuse code from past efforts, and by using a 'black
box' programming methodology, it was easy to break up a large application
into a number of functional modules which could be independently developed
and tested.
By contrast, I am now involved in the development of an Ada programming
environment which still requires the user to deal with an editor (screen
oriented, though not syntax directed), compiler, linker, debugger and
librarian as separate tools. I think that making all this mucking around
more convenient for the user would do as much for productivity as all
the advanced 'features' that Ada is nice enough to provide.
An integrated programming environment may encourage some to indulge in
sloppy programming, but it could make life a great deal easier for the rest
of us.
Marc Ramsey