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From: scc@cl.cam.ac.uk (Stephen Crawley)
Newsgroups: comp.sw.components
Subject: Re:  Re: Garbage Collection & ADTs
Message-ID: <914@scaup.cl.cam.ac.uk>
Date: 25 Sep 89 12:04:15 GMT
References: <909@scaup.cl.cam.ac.uk> <6563@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Sender: news@cl.cam.ac.uk
Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK
Lines: 33

Bill Wolfe writes:
> Incidentally, the questions you are asking (and this is NOT,
> repeat NOT, intended to reflect negatively on Mr. Crawley) in
> this and at least one previous article indicate that you do not
> really understand generics or exception handling at all, and I
> would therefore suggest that you investigate some basic Ada texts
> in order to understand these basic concepts and better participate
> in the discussion.

Nice one Bill.

I'll have you know Mr Wolfe that I've been using languages with exception
handling (CLU and Mesa) and generic data types (CLU) for many years.  I
understand the concepts quite adequately thank you.  I've also implemented
a variety of storage managers, including garbage collectors both for short
term and long term data structures, and I've done quite a bit of work on
hybrid (i.e. partly GC'ed, partly application controlled) storage management 
solutions.

Frankly I don't see why it is necessary to understand ADA intimately
to talk about software reuse.  The fact that two issues seem to be so
firmly associated in your mind is very sad, since it seems to blind 
you the possibility of non-Ada solutions.

Mr Wolfe:  I used to believe fervently (like you) that the overhead 
garbage collection was unacceptable.  Many years of bitter experience 
trying to get by without it have lead me to change my mind.  Perhaps if 
you had had my experience your views would be different.  You never know, 
you might even be wrong!

I'll answer your "technical" points later.

-- Steve