> -----Original Message----- > From: Borgia, William M. > Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 1999 11:27 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: RE: The March of Progress > > > If you want to make the contrast more dramatic, add some plain text, a > variable-length string, and an integer in hexadecimal. > > How many lines does it take to do this in Ada, C++, or Java: > > printf("The result for %-30s is %10.2f (%08x)\n", x, y, z); > > My question: Has anyone written good Ada equivalents to printf and > scanf? > > Mike > > I think that this is exactly the point. Most developers acknowledge that > printf and scanf are some of the most flexible, powerful library methods > in any language. Because of this, however, they are quite difficult for > the average guy maintaining or reviewing the software to understand. To > put it mildly, they rely on a large set of cryptic formatting characters. > They also rely on being able to send a variable number of parameters, > which Ada does not allow -- this is why C/C++ places parameters on the > stack in backwards order. > > Without looking at a reference, I can't understand what the line of code > above attempts to do. I do understand what Wes accomplishes because he > uses a simple function and the parameter semantics are meaningful because > of named parameter association. > > In short, I'd rather see a few lines of code that I can understand at a > glance rather than one that requires a more knowledge or a reference. > > Bill