eanv20@castle.ed.ac.uk (John Woods) (02/14/91)
I'm currently pursuing a PhD in a relatively new field of biochemistry. Many computer programs have been written to aid investigations in this area, and for my Honours project I attempted a graphical interface to my supervisor's simulation program. Having spent the first few months of my PhD looking for suitable protocols, coming predictably to rest with X, C, and POSIX, I also discovered (thanks to OOSC) the world of object-orientation. Being a (sort-of) C programmer, I immediately bought the ARM and had a go in C++. After a short time, I re- read OOSC and decided, in my limited wisdom, that it described a far more refined language - and one I would infinitely prefer to use in place of C++. But I need help (please): - Where can I get Eiffel? How much is it? Can I get a demo version? - How ready is Eiffel for large-scale software development? - How easy will it be to communicate with the user via X-windows? - How easy will it be to communicate with the operating system? - How easy will it be to communicate with other language processes? - Although OOSC is extremely good as far as it goes, is there (or will there be) an ARM equivalent to describe the standard? - How widespread is its use? - How much support is available? I tried comp.lang.eiffel as a shot in the dark this morning and was surprised to find a board. But I'll need a second supervisor - and if they are not too conversant with Eiffel, I don't want to be annoying people on this group all the time. On that note, apologies for the bandwidth used and time taken by this message. I would be very grateful for any answers to the above questions. Thanks... -- /******* cut here ******* John Woods ******* cut here ******** * Philosophy: Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit (Virgil) * * Disclaimer: Every statement in this file is possibly !true * ******** cut here ******* John Woods ******* cut here *******/