Personally I am of the opinion that a programming language is for the benefit of the programmer, to be least "hindered" in the coding. It should help the coding and minimize both syntax pondering and keystrokes.
A programming language should not have a role of disciplining the programmer. That should be done outside of the language, whether it be through a human review or using an automatic tool. That way the programmer could with the least effort construct a correct program. If the program is not correct the additional effort caused by that is not exceeding what would be caused by a "disciplining" language in the same case. Note that a bad programmer makes bad programs regardless of the language he uses. If I take REXX as an example, although it has its limitations and rough edges, it have 4 important advantages IMHO: 1. It lives up the principle of "least astonishment" in syntax. 2. Its functionality and syntax is oriented towards the end goal of the code effort. 3. It lives up to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). 4. It minimizes the keystrokes for the programmer. Best Regards Thomas Berg ___________________________________________________________________ Thomas Berg Specialist zOS\RQM\IT Delivery SWEDBANK AB (Publ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
