Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:11876 comp.lang.misc:1770
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!att!ihlpb!nevin1
From: nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Liber)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Language Converters (was: (none)  really was: FORTRAN => C Converters)
Message-ID: <8554@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Date: 17 Aug 88 23:43:00 GMT
References: <8808091347.aa14145@SMOKE.BRL.MIL>
Reply-To: nevin1@ihlpb.UUCP (55528-Liber,N.J.)
Followup-To: comp.lang.misc
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 22

[followups to comp.lang.misc]

In article <8808091347.aa14145@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> PHY6JEM@CMS1.UCS.LEEDS.AC.UK writes:

>At the same time I would like to convert [a FORTRAN program] to C which
>would make it a bit easier to maintain.

Do language converters really make a program easier to maintain?  Although a
language converter might make allow a program to run under more
environments, I tend to think that the program becomes harder to
maintain.  The writing style (indentation, etc.), comments, variable
names, etc. would probably get lost in the translation.  Also, a typical
FORTRAN program (for example) simply translated to C would still look
like a typical FORTRAN program, not a typical C program.

Has someone used a language converter and found contradictions to my
intuition?
-- 
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