[MUD-Dev] [TECH] Eiffel and Assertions...

[Brian Hook]

On Behalf Of Adam Martin:

> Having followed the Eiffel links and read them extensively over
> the last couple of days, I'm having a problem finding any real
> significant differences from Java, other than the assertions.

Oooh, don't say that in public =) If you feel like spending the
money, I would recommend (highly) the full book by Ian Joyner
"Objects Unencapsulated", Bertrand Meyer's "Object Oriented Software
Construction" (the latest edition that talks about Java), and Tim
Budd's "Introduction to Object Oriented Programming Languages" (I
think that's the title).

Budd's book is very good, because it gives side by examples and
implementations of various algorithms and tasks using a wide range
of languages.  Some of the languages he covers include Java,
Objective-C, C++, SmallTalk, Eiffel, Ruby, Python, C# and CLOS.

He also gives a very unbiased, matter of fact discussion about the
value (or not) of static and dynamic typing, multiple inheritance
and other touchy subjects.  He does a pretty good job of stating how
and why different languages do different things, but he never gets
into the "which is better" -- he typically says something like
"While this feature is undoubtedly powerful, opponents dislike it
because of XXX".  For example, static vs. dynamic typing have their
respective strengths and weaknesses.  I prefer mostly dynamic typing
with optional static type checking (cf. Objective-C), but I do
recognize for certain applications that strong, rock-solid type
checking is vital.  But most members of these camps just believe in
the One True Way as defined by their choice of language and
environment.

Because Budd doesn't have an agenda, he manages to get across
concepts without denigrating others or artificially fluffing up
something else.  It's not a constant advocacy rant.  My major turn
off from Meyer's book was that he really did emphasize how much
"better" Eiffel is than everything else, and he's just wrong on some
counts.

Brian

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