murali@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (S Muralidharan) (08/07/90)
Before you dismiss the idea of multiple implementations as not so important, let me point out just a couple of things. Look at almost any industry. The idea of mutiple implementations is crucial to the success of every industry - cosmetics to computers. A software components industry will be no exception. The level of abstraction plays an important role in judging how important this idea is. Thinking at bit level, probably the idea may seem even ridiculous. If binary search trees is your abstraction, for example, the idea seems less important than if the abstraction is an almost constant function. What we practice today need not necessarily be the right way to do things. What is only a theory today becomes a practice tomorrow! Cheers, Murali