Super C++ is cool!

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

To: farber () central cis upenn edu
Subject: Super C++ is cool!




This made me laugh quite heartily...


------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: kgk () sig sig ai mit edu (Kleanthes Koniaris)
To: info-dylan () ministry cambridge apple com
Subject: What to call the new Dylan?
Date: 04 Dec 1993 07:41:00 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.lang.dylan


> From what I have heard, it seems almost final that Dylan will abandon
Lisp syntax.  Instead, it will adopt an infix notation, like Algol.  I
presume that this is important in order to make it attractive to C/C++
hackers.


A professor of computer science here at MIT who understands why trends
like UNIX, C, and DOS are successful (even though he dislikes them)
told me that "...a good idea comes along every ten years in computer
science, and the current ``good idea'' is that ``C++ is a good
thing.''"  I don't know how this "good idea" became established, but
he is right, it is typical of common thought.


He suggests that the new syntax of Dylan should benefit from this
"good idea" and be called "Apple C++," as this name and syntax would
make it more attractive to the masses.  I think that he is on to
something here: the market moves in strange ways.  I thought that
"Apple C++" is a fair name, but that IBM PC hackers might not like the
"Apple" part, since they have limited taste given all of their hacking
on the tormented Intel architecture under MicroSloth development
systems (which must surely use BASIC in numerous places inside).


So, as an alternative, let me suggest:


 - Beyond C++
 - Hyper C++
 - Meta C++
 - Super C++
 - Object C++
 - C++/GC


My personal favorite:


 - Sovereign C++


I'm not sure about the exact name, but it clearly has to have "C" and
"++" in it somehow.  I have to be able to argue on its behalf with
lines like "sure C++ has objects, and objects are a good thing, but in
Super C++ *everything* is an object, so it must be better!"  If you
listen to the dialog that people use when they run for political
office, that's exactly the kind of argument Dylan advocates should be
after.  Talking about how wonderful CLOS is and remarking that
"Smalltalk was so great, but the masses never understood it" will
cause eyes to glaze over.


I hope that Dylan makes it, but it needs a more tasteless image, and a
new name would be exactly the right thing.  It is very important that
people think that they are programming in some kind of "C".


Dylan should not be viewed as a sophisticated blend of CLOS,
Smalltalk, Pascal, and Scheme, but merely as the next version of C++.
Finally, the right thing is to have MTV's Beavis (sp?) and Butthead on
the package.  Butthead will say "Super C++ is cool," while Beavis will
say "Yeah... heh, heh, heh, but ordinary C++ *sucks*."

--
        ---kleanthes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kleanthes Koniaris, MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab NE43-432, 545 Technology
Square, Cambridge, MA 02139.  Work: 617-253-6778; FAX: 258-8682, or 253-5060