[GRLUG] Objective-C [Was: iPad]

[Adam Tauno Williams]

On Fri, 2010-01-29 at 09:36 -0500, Michael Mol wrote:
> Ech. I avoid getting into emotional arguments around languages; I'd 
> rarely agree with anyone. I was merely considering it from technical 
> similarities.

Ditto.  I've found the tool-chain is far more important than the
language so I'm fairly agnostic about languages.  Generally I don't care
- except in the case of PHP and Perl where I'm a militant de-advocate.
>From a sys-admin perspective both those environments are a major PITA.
The Open Source realm would be a better and more productive place
without them.

I've used, and been productive, in Objective-C, C/C++, Java, .NET (C#),
Python, Jython, and PHP.  But development in Objective-C and PHP both
occur against a strong head-wind; poor tool-chain [Objective-C] and
lousy implementation [PHP].  As an admin I've encountered too many
nightmares just trying to use exist Perl code to ever dip into Perl
development.

> > Go to the GNUstep documentation, pick anywhere, maybe
> > <http://www.gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/EOControl/EOGenericRecord.html>,  and count the "Description forthcoming".  It has been that way for years?  Running toward a decade I'd guess.  The Apple documentation [for example:<http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSArray_Class/NSArray.html>] is really good [essentially a forward version of the NeXT/Open documentation].  But it is only a rough guide as to what will work on a given version or edition of GNU Objective-C.
> > So I see similarities to Perl too.... in CPAN<shudder/>.
> Yeah, CPAN is pretty scary.
> I don't often advocate for or against languages. However, I've had a 
> couple particularly nasty experiences with both the PHP and Perl 
> *communities* that's left me with a foul taste.

Ditto.  Neither of them has an attitude compatible with production /
enterprise development.

> I don't do that much 
> outreach to PHP as a result of one, and I'm hesitant to use Perl for 
> production environments as a result of the other. (Which is sad, because 
> Perl is the highest-level programming language I'm somewhat fluent in.)