open this package and you're stuck with it

[Ned Nowotny]

In article <48a44d7c.20b6d at apollo.HP.COM> nelson_p at apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson) writes:
>
>   Another larger question to ask is why this industry insists on
>   shipping beta-quality products as finshed products.   When I got
>   my Zortech Rev 2.0 package the disk envelope seal was already broken!!!
>   I called Zortech and they said that THEY opened the package to insert
>   some disks with some last minute changes.   Now they're shipping a
>   version 2.06 to fix some more problems.
>

Generally speaking, I agree with your complaint.  However, you should not
be too hard on Zortech because of their C++ compiler.  After all, there are
no correct implementations of C++ anywhere in the known world.  In fact,
there can't be.  Even if all of the known bugs in the quintessential
reference implementation of C++ were fixed, the language itself is still
incompletely defined.

While I like several of the features C++ offers, I can not recommend it for
general use.  If you are looking for compilers which should live up to
reasonable expectations of merchantability, I would have to suggest that
you stick to languages with both well defined standards and a good many
years of implementation experience behind them.

On the other hand, if you want the features that C++ offers with a fair
degree of compatibility with existing C development environments, then by
all means use C++.  But remember, "you pays your money and you takes your
chances."

Ned Nowotny, MCC CAD Program, Box 200195, Austin, TX  78720  Ph: (512) 338-3715
ARPA: ned at mcc.com                   UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cadillac!ned
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