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From: Jean-Louis Leroy <jll@skynet.be>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.beta
Subject: Re: Beginner at work: two dimensional value-based array generic
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1999 22:42:30 +0100
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In article <yc03e5l63yh.fsf@ufleku.cs.au.dk>, Peter von der Ahé wrote:

> hearing a talk by Bjarne Stroustrup

Time well spent :)

> I think you are.  But consider that BETA is a small language with only
> a few keywords.  C++ is far more complex than BETA, when you consider
> the amount of language constructs.

Well, the fact is, most C++ collections I've used are collections of 
references. Since the STL has arrived, most of them are in the form 
std::collection<sometype*> or std::collection< somesmartptr<sometype> >. 
It's *very* nice for a language to make it possible to implement new 
collections, as opposed to hard-coding them in the language. C++ has 
succeeded in this, but it has become an incredibly complex language in the 
process.

Java, OTOH, is a near-total failure in that respect. The language includes 
fixed-size typesafe arrays, but doesn't have typesafe extensible arrays. 
You can't make them yourself either. As a result, you put an Apple in the 
basket, and you retrieve an Object...which you are forced to cast first 
thing. In some respects Java marries the disadvantages of C++-style strong 
static typing with the disadvantages of Smalltalk-style typelessness.

Beta may have found the sane approach...

Jean-Louis Leroy
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jl_leroy/