?

[Jens Grabarske]

Hey, Skybuck, that sounds a lot more friendly :)

Skybuck Flying schrieb:
> With my last posting I mean the following:
> 
> What can an oz programmer program that can't be programmed with ALGOL like
> languages ?

The short and most probably misleading answer is: Nothing.

That is, if we assume that the ALGOL like language in question also has 
threading support and all the other basic stuff. But provided that, the 
answer is (from a theoretical-analytical point of view): Nothing.

To tell you why this answer is misleading, let me ask you a slightly 
different but analogous question: What can a man with an axe and a 
hammer do that a man with just a hammer can't?

Think it through and you will see that actually, most hammers do have a 
sharp end on the other side of the hammer head. It's mostly used to 
remove planks, but you COULD even chop a tree with it. It will take you 
a lot longer than with an axe, but in principle, it can be done. It's 
not nice, it's not elegant, it's not cool. But it can be done.

So, in principle, you would have to answer "Nothing" to that question. 
But it would be misleading. Why is it misleading? Because it's the wrong 
question.

Another example (you like examples, so I'll give you another one):

What can a human using normal text express that someone using Morse code 
can't express?

Ew, just consider that we all just started using Morse code back and 
forth. That would be tiresome and slow. And boring after a pretty short 
period of time. But we would have to answer "Nothing" to the question above.

> 
> The only thing I understand so far is that it has some wacky, weird,
> difficult to use constraint language stuff.

That's one aspect of it. And yes, constraint stuff is a little difficult.

> 
> Right now I am investigating how far I can take MPL constraint language
> since that has an COM interface for Delphi.

Sounds like the right tool for your task at hand :)

> 
> So once I understand how to model my problem I could use it for Delphi :P*
> 

Feel free :)

> So no big deal there.... :P =D
> 
> It's all a matter of programming hehe and finding a way to do what I want
> with MPL.

If you like MPL, use it. I like Oz and Lisp, I'll use those two :)

> 
> Ofcourse if you want to convince that OZ is *reallllllllllllly powerfull*
> 

I don't want to convince, I want to explain, because that's what you 
asked for. An explanation. And I gave you one :)

> You will simply solve my little question which I posted to this newsgroup
> about
> *optimal filesharing* =D
> 

Why should I? You already said that MPL has exactly those features you 
will need for your project. Why should I waste my time implementing 
something you won't need?

> If you can solve/program that problem in say a few days with oz it will be
> convinced.

I guess 4 hours would suffice. I do normal freelancer work, so I would 
charge you the normal fee for that kind of task, say, including 
documentation and testing, 50€ per hour. To give you a fixed quote, I'd 
say 200€. Deal?

> 
> If not then I am just going to continue to laugh at this language called OZ
> =D

Oh, do. There are lots who laugh at Lisp, as well. We like to laugh at 
them. That way, we have a complete circle and an absolute minimum of 
understanding in that system.

Kind regards,

Jens