[comp.lang.c++] Sanity check

jss@hector.UUCP (Jerry Schwarz) (11/18/88)

A fair number of submissions to this group claim something like "What
C++ needs to really be useful in situation X is ...".

Before you submit such an item I suggest the following sanity check.
Apply your criteria to the languages that existed ten or fifteen
years ago. (C, Pascal, Smalltalk, ...)   Now look at the history of
the past ten years and what languages have been used in situation X.
If predictions based on your criteria don't match that history, maybe
you should reconsider whether your claim is worth taking seriously.

(Hint: The X that seems to most frequently generate items that fail
this test is "large applications".)

Jerry Schwarz
AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill