Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site unc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!drutx!houxe!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!floyd!harpo!decvax!mcnc!unc!sherouse From: sherouse@unc.UUCP Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Re: RE: UNIX for physicists Message-ID: <7345@unc.UUCP> Date: Thu, 14-Jun-84 08:29:13 EDT Article-I.D.: unc.7345 Posted: Thu Jun 14 08:29:13 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 15-Jun-84 02:03:54 EDT References: <2876@teklabs.UUCP> Organization: CS Dept., U. of N. Carolina at Chapel Hill Lines: 47 I really {think|hope} that Modula-2 is what {we|you|I} {am|are} looking for. I have grown tremendously intolerant of FORTRAN in the last few years for it's come-hither-and-write-spaghetti attitude. FORTRAN-77 is just a band-aid. Pascal is wonderful for things that can be done in one thought but a nightmare for large system development - even in it's extended state (a tip of the hat to Oregon Software). Nevertheless it *does* know about trig functions and the like and doesn't insist on a lot of casting to do it. C is fun. It is also an invitation to disaster for scientists who program casually. It is my experience that they don't *want* to know about pointers and the like. And the math library is nothing if not a nuisance. Don't talk to me about ADA. Modula is the great hope for the future. It has all of Pascal's wonderful traits (Spend six months in a scientific software house modifying code from 1966 and you too will scream for STRUCTURE.) without it's brain damage vis-a-vis the more exotic data manipulations we all like to leave for posterity. It cajoles but does not cripple. I hope. You see, I haven't actually used it yet. We are however on DECWRL's list. No pressure, guys. All this applies to new development of course. If you live in the shadow of decades of FORTRAN, heaven help you and pass the Parmesan. So, there's my two cents. What've we got now, $1.50? << The views expressed are my own and are thus indistinguishable from >> << absolute truth. >> George W. Sherouse Associate Physicist Division of Radiation Therapy North Carolina Memorial Hospital Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (919) 966-1101