Software Engineering discussion

I am perplexed. I have heard of Eiffel, but knew nothing about it until I read this chapter. It seems compelling, and seems to have introduced many key OO concepts that we take for granted today, such as pre- and post-conditions, generics, strong encapsulation, etc. The seamlessness between OOA/D and code, without requiring a UML-like paradigm shift, also seems attractive. It is even standardized.

So why isn't anyone using it?? It does not appear in the TIOBE top 50 language list, and it is listed among the next tier of 50 languages.

Again, some code examples would have helped me with this chapter.

Meyer's "Genericity Versus Inheritance" paper sounds like must reading. It can be found here:

http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/meyer...

Of the languages that "I haven't heard of and will probably never use", this was my favorite from this book.

They hit many of the big concepts that Brad mentioned.

It was interesting that Bertrand knew so many human languages too (5 listed). It sounds like that enabled him to do a great deal of international education and training. It's also a greatly different perspective than someone coming from a Math/Engineering background.

Since I liked this chapter so much, I found irony in the comments (on page 419) that say 90% of people stop reading a book after 50 pages.