Re: [Fwd: Re: Wikipedia criticism about root]

Hi Christian,

> Can you imagine how programs such as Photoshop, Quark XPress,
> MS Office, ORACLE, SAS, etc, all written in C++ (or C), would
> work if they were written in Java? It would be a desaster!

OpenOffice for MacOSX is written completely in Java and it is not a disaster ! OpenOffice for Linux has a strong Java component too. Together/J is written completely in Java too. I have already mentioned WebService Frameworks, J2EE and NASA Mars program - all being very complex and unsuccessful, all using Java.
Most applications you mention are written in multiple languages. Oracle, for example, contains a lot of Java too.

Certainly, as I have already mentioned, Java VM itself is written in C/C++ (at least the Sun implementation) so one can say that even Java applications do use C++. As a low-level language, C++ can be used to write higher level Frameworks/Languages. But it is completely unsuitable for End Users. C++ is a proto-language, it lacks many fundamental components (like reflection and memory management). Anyone writing User Framework for End Users in C++ has to finish C++ first - he has to implement all missing functionality. This is what both Java and Root teams did. By doing that, however, you are changing C++ - user doesn't use C++ any more, she uses modified C++. Java authors have done it by cleanly defining the syntax/semantics/pragmatics of the NEW language - Java. Root authors pretend to give C++ to a user, but they don't. Root both extends and restricts C++ and creates a very badly defined pseudo-language. And that is partly because Root users are not really using C++ that it is so difficult to connect Root with other C++ Frameworks (which have probably implemented missing C++ features too - in a different/incompatible way).

            Julius

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