From: "Mauricio Fernández" <batsman.geo@...>
Date: 2003-07-12T16:31:23+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby talk from LL2

On Sat, Jul 12, 2003 at 06:51:26AM +0900, Chris Thomas wrote:
> >That was the first time (I'm aware of) somebody stated that the main 
> >goal
> >of a programming language isn't expressive power (possibly by being 
> >close
> >to natural languages, as Perl) nor ease of learning or usage, but 
> >making
> >the programmer happier (which is a weighted mix of all other criteria).
> 
> If I recall correctly, Stroustrup stated that this was an objective of 
> C++ in the intro to "The C++ Programming Language."

I believe matz' "programmer happiness" concept is more general than
Stroustrup's design goals for C++, ie. the former includes the latter.

<quote>
The purpose of learning a programming language is to become a better
programmer; that is, to become more effective at designing and
implementing new systems and at maintaining old ones.

[...]

A programming language serves two related purposes: it provides a vehicle
for the programmer to specify actions to be executed, and it provides a
set of concepts for the programmer to use when thinking about what can
be done.  [...] The second purpose ideally requires a language that is
"close to the problem to be solved" so that the concepts of a solution
can be expressed directly and concisely. The facilities added to C to
create C++ were primarily designed with this in mind.
</quote>

To start with, matz gives us plenty of sugar to keep us happy :-)

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