On Nov 11, 2007, at 17:26 , jerzy.karczmarczuk@info.unicaen.fr wrote:
Andrew Coppin writes:
Brent Yorgey wrote:
Expressiveness certainly makes it easier, but nothing (other than sanity...) stops you from writing a Haskell compiler in, say, COBOL. *I* would stop you. Friends don't let friends write in COBOL.
That's the funniest thing I've read today. You literally just woke my mum up by making my laugh. Thanks! :-D
I would be the last who wanted to spoil such a good joke. But... tell me please, ANYONE, who takes part in this inspiring exchange: How many COBOL programs have you written in your life? How many programs in Cobol have you actually SEEN?
I've maintained an accounting system and a material requirements planning system written in COBOL. I've written various random things including a Newton's Method program (because I was taking an entry level computing-for-math course which bored me out of my skull --- wasn't allowed to place out of it, and already knew all of it, so I got my revenge by submitting assignments in random languages). COBOL has its place. Compiler design is *not* it. -- brandon s. allbery [solaris,freebsd,perl,pugs,haskell] allbery@kf8nh.com system administrator [openafs,heimdal,too many hats] allbery@ece.cmu.edu electrical and computer engineering, carnegie mellon university KF8NH