NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/comp/object/4308

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-23 | 3.5 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!waikato.ac.nz!comp.vuw.ac.nz!actrix!Des.Kenny
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: Is Borland the leader in technology?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
From: [e-mail]
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 22:27:31 GMT
Sender: [e-mail] (Des Kenny)
References: <1992Nov17.124222.12003@bsu-ucs> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: Actrix Information Exchange
Lines: 63

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (James Paul Henley) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Barry Margolin) writes:
> >In article <1992Nov17.124222.12003@bsu-ucs> [e-mail] writes:
> >>Borland claims to be the leader in Object Oriented Programming. Why do
> >>you feel they can hold this title in concern to the latest in technology?
> >
> >They're probably making this claim based on market share, not necessarily
> >on technical comparison.  This is a common marketing strategy.  I wouldn't
> >be surprised if their Turbo C++ is the largest selling OO language product.
> >Does Turbo Pascal have OO facilities, too?
> >--
> >Barry Margolin
> >System Manager, Thinking Machines Corp.
> >
> >[e-mail]          {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
>
>
> You haven't heard?  They introduced OOP way back in version 5.5, and they
> now have version 7.0 out.  They also have OOP support in Turbo Pascal for
> Windows, and in fact, you really can't program for Windows effectively without
> using OOP.  Since most CS departments look down their noses at PC based
> languages, I'm not surprised how little they know about TP.  I spent an
> hour arguing with one of the professors in the CS department here one day.
> He kept saying: "Yes, but you cant do XXX in Turbo Pascal".  I would then
> explain *exactly* how to do XXX in Turbo Pascal, and he would say "Yes, but
> you can't do YYY in Turbo Pascal." ad nauseum.  He finally ran out of things
> that he thought TP could not do, and was literally speechless.
>
> So far, every attempt to implement object oriented Chemical Engineering
> applications in Smalltalk and Lisp have fizzled.  Those languages simply
> cannot handle the number crunching necessary.  For me and my purposes,
> Turbo Pascal is the *only* current language that even comes close to handling
> what I need to do.  I have tried Prolog, CLIPS, C++, etc.
>
> I am having a really hard time getting people in the Computer Science field
> to understand our needs in Chemical Engineering.  Every major OOP development
> in Chemical Engineering has required *too* much computer expertise to use.
> I thought that was what OOP was supposed to avoid!  I'm going to find the
> right OOP tools one way or another, even if it means going to graduate school
> in CS and then developing them myself.
>
> James P. Henley Jr.
> Chemical Engineering Dept
> Auburn University
>
  Have you looked at Eiffel . You may find some features in Eiffel to suit
  your requirements. Eiffel has been used for molecular models . I can find
  the reference if you are interested.

  My opinion is that Eiffel is definitely worth a serious look. You may be
  pleasantly surprised. I would be very interested to see what you think of
  it. ISE is about to release a new version ISE Eiffel 3.

  Des Kenny
  Objective Methods Ltd
  Wellington
  New Zealand
  PO Box 17356 Wellington
  phone: [phone]
  fax:   [phone]
  email : [e-mail]