Re: Emacs contributions, C and Lisp

[Óscar Fuentes]

David Kastrup <address@hidden> writes:

[snip]

> You make an ex cathedra statement "That's what a C++ programmer
> expects", state that you are "perplexed" when somebody who disagrees
> purports to be a C++ programmer and take it as a reason to abort the
> discussion because there is no common basis for communication.
>
> Correct, or not?

Indeed there was no common basis for communication, but that is not the
same as dismissing the interlocutor's POV as worthless. Much less to
accuse him of being a fraud.

I'm genuinely confused by Eli's stance. At the point you quoted I was
already suspecting that the case he was talking about was not the same
as mine and clarifying the issue seemed of little value because, for me,
the main motivation of the discussion did not depend on our opinions
about an specific case.

Also, there are lots of programmers who are proficient on a very small
subset of the language and claim to be C++ programmers. If I were one of
those, I wouldn't make that claim, but truth is that they do useful,
productive work and in that sense they are C++ programmers. So I
acknowledge Eli's right to say he is a C++ programmer even *if* he is
unacquainted with such basic concepts as function overloading.

> Yes, that's inflammatory and almost libelous.  Because it is a summary
> of something that can hardly be read in any way that is _not_
> inflammatory and almost libelous.  Feel free to point out any other
> valid reading of it, even though it could lead to a continuation of a
> discussion you want to stop.

Eli took no offense from my response. That should be a strong hint for
you.