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Subject:
From:
Richard Stuckey <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Richard Stuckey <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 23 Jul 1999 15:45:42 +0100
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John McCormick wrote:

> Today we did arrays and they couldn't believe that
> anyone would put up with a language where the index has to start at zero.
> Students with C backgrounds cannot understand why they would want it any
> other way.

Yet more evidence that early exposure to C results in irreversible brain
damage...     :-)

Did they also complain about C's other array deficiencies - no bounds
checking, access by p++ as well as [] ?

I recently attended a UML course where I told the (C++) lecturer that Ada (83)
does not support arithmetic on pointers - his immediate question was "But then
how do you traverse an array?"   This mind-set of being unable to distinguish
between the logical properties of data and its physical implementation is
terrifying at times!

         Richard Stuckey



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