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Re: Lucent Technologies & Sun Microsystems

>>What we might see is Java used on the client side and Limbo used on the
>>server side. It's really the power of Inferno (e.g., real-time
>>compatible GC, Namespace, etc.) that is the revolution. Any compatible

since i wish to reason about programs -- even prove things
about them before release -- and maintain them later, i'll use
Limbo over Java on the client side any day.  i get a straightforward
type system, clear linkage between components, scope rules with clear effect,
concurrency with significant theoretical foundation
and tool support, predictable garbage collection (which is essential
in so many client-side applications) guaranteed by the language,
and more.  Limbo is an extremely good language; Java is a poor design.

it seems a practical with current techniques to produce a formal definition of Limbo,
and build analysis tools similar to those for SPARK.
i wouldn't even consider it for Java; as with Ada, any formal definition
would be incomplete, both in substance and in coverage of the language,
and by the time you'd made the language suitable for SPARK-like analysis,
it would bear the same relation to Java as SPARK does to Ada.