Language

[ewx]

I've mostly been writing in Java for the last couple of days at work, which is a bit of a shift in approach, but necessary for one of the remaining bits of my project. I lost a bit of time to Java's own bugs, and am generally coming to feel like using the language is a bit like playing with Duplo except that every tenth brick is either the wrong shape or explosive. Perhaps there is a whole series of comparisons of programming languages to construction toys in there: Tcl as Lego, C as Meccano and C++ as a bizarre variant Meccano with four different incompatible screw sizes, Perl as ... I don't know, something that maimed so many of the kids who used it that it got banned, perhaps? l-)

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Perhaps there is a whole series of comparisons of programming languages to construction toys in there: Tcl as Lego, C as Meccano and C++ as a bizarre variant Meccano with four different incompatible screw sizes

Have you read Douglas Coupland's Microserfs? (j4 has my copy if you want to, it's worth a read.)

[ewx.livejournal.com]

I believe I have, though quite a while ago, so if you're referring to anything in particular about it I've probably forgotten...

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Well without my copy in front of me I can't be exact, but the software they start the company to market is, IIRC, based on modelling objects and likened to digital Lego, and the narrator's father builds the office out of Lego...

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Some of us have had to create the Duplo blocks first, from a dodgy injection moulding machine, with a mould imprecisely made to an out-of-date specification (viz, JVM maintenance) ... hey, you must have come across some of my bricks ...