> Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> ...
>> > perception that, at their roots, Scheme, C and Python share one
>> > philosophical underpinning (one that's extremely rare among programming
>> > languages as a whole) -- an appreciation of SIMPLICITY AND UNIFORMITY as
>> > language characteristics.
>>
>> Out of curiosity, what do you consider some of the worst offenders as far
>> as overly complex and inconsistent languages go, and why?
>
> I think the Original Sin in that regard was PL/I: it tried to have all
> the "cool features" of the three widespread languages of the time,
> Cobol, Algol _and_ Fortran (and then some), because it aimed to replace
> all three and become the "one programming language". As a result, it
> tended to have two or more ways to perform any given task, typically
> inspired by some of the existing languages, often with the addition of
> new ones made out of whole cloth.
>
> PL/I (mostly in various subset and "extended subset" forms) was widely
> used in the implementation of Multics, and I believe that the statement
> in the "Spirit of C" was at least partly inspired by that experience
> (just like "Unix" was originally intended as a pun on "Multics"
> underscoring the drastically simpler philosophy of the new OS).
Cousin Alex ....
With regards to PL/I a phrase from an old ( 1969 ) song
named "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" comes to mind ....
Ya take what you need and ya leave the rest ....
I really liked programming in pl/1
and did a little over 3 years of Multics time
in San Juan, Puerto Rico ....
http://multicians.org/site-prha.html
--
Stanley C. Kitching
Human Being
Phoenix, Arizona
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