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Peter Coffees May 15 Epicenters column, “Save Me from Cleverness,” rightly criticizes elements of the C language. Why not follow [this] to the logical conclusion—use Pascal? Pascal is far superior to C in its innate error checking. Modern Pascal, such as Borlands Object Pascal (Delphi), can do everything C can do, and far better.
It is a mystery to me why Microsofts Bill Gates has pushed Basic and C instead of Delphi. If Windows and Word were written in Delphi, they would be far more robust than they are. I accuse Mr. Gates of ignorance of sound engineering practice, not following IBMs lead in engineering.
Crashes of Windows remind me of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in 1940 and the New Orleans levees that failed last year. Software must be designed in accordance with sound traditional engineering principles and standards.
Dr. Sanford Aranoff
Monroe Township, N.J.