To: adalee AT sendit DOT sendit DOT nodak DOT edu
Cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Quake vs. Demos
Message-ID: <19970530.213927.7111.0.fwec@juno.com>
References: <199705302154 DOT QAA24261 AT sendit DOT sendit DOT nodak DOT edu>
From: fwec AT juno DOT com (Mark T Logan)
Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 21:38:49 EDT
Precedence: bulk


On Fri, 30 May 1997 16:54:16 -0500 (CDT) Adam W Lee
<adalee AT sendit DOT sendit DOT nodak DOT edu> writes:
>C++ is the embodiment of
>pretty code, and it sucks.

C++ does not suck.  It simply is not the ideal language for all
situations.
If you try to code a procedure oriented program, such as a game, with it,

you are cruisin' for a bruisin'.  However, ask any software engineer, 
computer science student, or for that matter a professor, and they will
tell that C++ and other object oriented languages are indisposable.  You
see, when a team of twenty people start to work on a massive program,
a procedure oriented language simply ***will not work***.  

The problem is that the complexity of today's software is too much for
the 
human mind to comprehend.  With a procedure oriented language, all 
parts of the program are inextricably linked with the rest of the
program.
You cannot write one part of the program without understanding the rest
of
the program, and that's impossible.

With an object oriented language, you only have to understand the class
that
you are writing.  The rest of the program is unimportant.  Each class
handles
one task, has its own data members which cannot be accessed by any other
part of the program.  This allows a team member to write one part of the
program,
and integrate it with the rest of the program that has been written by
someone
else.

Of course, C++, IMHO, is not for games, or anything that has to run
quickly.
With a speed critical app, you have to know every part of your program
inside
and out, so that when you start optimizing, you have a clear idea of how
the
program works.

Anyhoo, sorry for writing a novel.

fwec AT juno DOT com