R.I.P. Niklaus Wirth

[Namir]

In the mid 80s I used to write for Computer Language magazine. The only in-person interview I did for that magazine was with Ada's creator Dr Jean Ichbia. I never had a chance to meet Professor Wirth. I did ask him a question through the intermediary of one of the main editors of the magazine. The question was related about my interest in creating a new programming language. Professor Wirth replied to my editor that creating a new programming languages is not as easy as it seems.

I remember asking Dr Ichbia, in my interview, about the difference between Ada (which was influenced by Pascal and was adopted by the US DOD as the standard programming langauge) and Modula-2. Ichbia's reply that solving real-world applications like those for naional defence requires a complex progamming language like Ada. He added that one cannot build complex real-world applications with simple solutions like Pascal or Modula-2.

I guess both Dr Ichbia and Professor Wirth can discuss and compare their programming languages in the great beyond.

Namir