[ScottBurson]

So you had to write your own compiler, operating system, and runtime libraries too?

-- I know, you didn't think it made any sense either. I'm just pointing out that a line has to be drawn somewhere; where it gets drawn is actually arbitrary.

Yeah, I've had to deal with ridiculous mandates from on high too, though none anywhere near that onerous. In my previous job, we were writing a compiler. It was mandated to be in C++ -- the first mistake -- and we had to use smart pointers instead of GC -- also a mistake. But the completely idiotic thing was that we were not allowed to declare any exception classes. The VP of Engineering -- a very smart and experienced but very arrogant guy -- had seen exception hierarchies get out of control before and decided the solution was to ban them.

But that's on a pretty small scale compared to what you're talking about.

[jacquesm]

> So you had to write your own compiler, operating system, and runtime libraries too?

I tried that line and it did not work.

[ScottBurson]

Huh. I wonder how they defined what was acceptable and what wasn't.

Oh well, I'll be fascinated to read the book if you ever write it.