[1052] in java-interest
Re: Operator Overloading
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Fumihiko \"Miko\" Matsumura)
Thu Aug 17 19:34:05 1995
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 1995 11:33:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Fumihiko \"Miko\" Matsumura" <miko@well.com>
To: Andrew Wason <aw@bae.bellcore.com>
Cc: java-interest@java.Eng.Sun.COM
In-Reply-To: <9508171631.AA23270@jello>
Just to add my commentary to the "operator overloading" controversy. This
topic seems to be getting a lot of attention because it strikes at the
root question: "What is the purpose of Java?".
One conception is that a programming language is an essentially "private"
method for one human to talk to one machine. Now, I understand that Java is
simply another programming language. but it seems to me that part of the
power of Java is in it's use as a social programming tool.
With the prospect of more code being shared amongst programmers
all over the world, the potential horror of misuse of
operator overloading becomes appallingly apparent. These distribution
methods make Java a human to human communication tool as well as a human
to machine tool.
I would also like to speak on behalf of the (hopefully) many future Java
users who are not on this list. I'd like to point out that most of us
"early adopters" have a strong programming background, and are
comfortable with the idea that + may not == +. However, this form of
ambiguity has the potential to cripple the rapid acceptance of Java in the
greater Internet community.
I think this is why this topic is getting so much attention, even though
many have invited this thread to quietly die. I hope that this issue will
be resolved in favor of the human to human relationship as opposed to the
human machine one. Please direct flames back to me rather than to the list.
Thanks
Miko
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