de*********@hotmail.com wrote:
<top posting rearranged - if you put your reply after the message to
which you are replying everyone can follow the discussion more easily>
pa**********@att.net wrote: Victor Bazarov wrote: pa**********@att.net wrote:
<snip>
I'm still not sure I have a 100% grasp of what is on-topic and what
isn't. I just mentioned the word "compiler" which seems to be a severe
criminal offence in this newsgroup.
http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lit...t.html#faq-5.9
The rest of the FAQ is well worth reading too.
I am very inexperienced in this area. From my standpoint, the whole
philosophy of "Let's narrow it down to the language. Let's never ever
mention other programming issues such as compilers and platforms." is a
philosophy that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me. I assume
that it makes no sense _to me_ because I'm so inexperienced, and that a
veteran of newsgroups and computing would find such a narrow definition
very sensible.
It's very sensible *in the context of this newsgroup*. When you ask a
question, you want as many people to read it as possible. That way, you
are more likely to get the right answer, and, very importantly, if
someone gives you the wrong answer, you are more likely to see someone
else correct it.
Now, imagine you are a C++ language expert who is prepared to give some
time to helping other people with C++ language questions. If you have
to sift through compiler and platform specific questions all the time
to find the occasional language question, you are likely to soon get
bored and give up reading and contributing.
In no way does any of that suggest that it is unacceptable to have
questions about your compiler or platform. Of course you will have
questions. But, in the same way that restricted topicality raises the
quality of C++ language help available here, restricted topicality in a
compiler-specific newsgroup (see the FAQ link I posted) has the same
effect there.
You will get high quality, peer-reviewed answers from the right experts
by posting to the right group. Don't be surprised to sometimes see the
same people helping you in more than one newsgroup either.
Gavin Deane
Gavin,
I like this reply, which is encouraging, respectful and helpful.
However, I nevertheless remain completely unconvinced of your argument
that it is healthy for this newsgroup to avoid discussion of compilers
and platforms
Surely, decisions about c++ code are influenced by judgments about how
the code will be treated on various platforms or compilers. (Accepting
that portability is a vital issue, I assume programmers consider all
commonly used platforms and compilers.)
However, how can there be discussion of these coding/language issues if
people are fined $5000 by the newsgroup police whenever they say
something like " I wrote .... and my dev c++ compiler said ... What
does ... compiler message mean?" ? The draconian enforcement of these
heavy financial penalties is preventing valuable discussion on pure
language issues concerning c++ programming. The c++ coding works
together with the platforms and the compilers in a symbiotic fashion.
I know a famous writer, Marcus Dontbe Gullible, who submitted what he
thought was a great idea to his publisher. He wanted to write a book
about high-school teaching which scrupulously avoided any mention of
high-school students. Unsurprisingly, the publisher laughed at
Marcus's idea, and thought it ridiculous. The raison d'etre of this
newsgroup -- discussing c++ without discussing compilers or platforms
-- seems analogous to Marcus's unworkable concept.
I also find it absurdly ironic that, in marked contrast to the attitude
towards compiler/platform discussions, the following posting, which was
_wildly irrelevant_, induced a long and sober thread of replies, and
did not seem to be condemned as OT by anybody.
Yesterday's irrelevant (but apparently not judged OT) thread began as
follows:
" I would like to share my distress at the way I have been treated in
my new entry-level job as a java programmer. (I have 3 months
programming experience). My salary is less than 2 million dollars a
year, and my boss has never offered to provide me with a chauffeur to
drive me into work, even though I live in a neighboring town.
Furthermore, last week he treated me to dinner at a Chinese restaurant,
and I was shocked and appalled to notice a small stain on one of the
tablecloths.
Are such experiences typical of everyone, or am I just unlucky?"
Nevertheless, despite all I've said, I enjoy this newsgroup so far and
my questions have been very well answered -- it has been a happy
discovery.
Paul Epstein