Re: is OO any use?

 Hello, David!

> This is not a troll, so please forgive me if it comes across as such.

 I don think so. :-)

> What I'm asking here is - is there any real practical value to be gained
> from supporting OOP in a PIC runtime environment?

 Let's divide the question in two parts:

 OOP as a design metodology: so far you are confortable with OOP design, I 
don't feel any problem with using it. If it allows you to a better design, 
and a cleaner organization, you will have a code more easy to understand 
and maintain. And if you use assembler -and most of us use it-, you will 
need that kind of code. There are tricks well known to obtain good 
non-OOP code for a OOP design, so don't be afraid to mix OOP design with 
final assembler code.

 OOP programming languages: teorically, it is possible; but I don't know 
any OO language compiler for PICs. Anyway, I strongly doubt that it is 
usefull. There are some issues related with dynamic linking and function 
calling that are heavier in a OO languaje due to polymorfism and inherance 
that could make the call of a function too heavy for obtaining good 
performance for a PIC. More powerfull microcontrolers -and I think here in 
something like a picojava core and higher- would allow an OO languaje, but 
the energy needs will be higher, and the cost of the components and the 
development time of the hardware will also increase.

 Yours:

David

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    David Santo Orcero
http://www.orcero.org/irbis
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