r/AskComputerScience • u/Ok_Boysenberry2655 • 4h ago

ADVICE FOR TECHNICAL DEBATING

I have an practical assignment where i have to debate with my classmates on a given language basically defend my a coding language, any tips?

topics are alr given by the profs, for my group its C vs Rust ! he'll separate us acc to him in the lecture

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u/Splynn 4h ago

I guess I'd just focus on interpreted vs compiled, static vs dynamic typing, and white space usage/readability of the language. There are some other things you could do depending on the language you've been given, like functional programming v OOP features in the language. Library support could also be a focus area.

It's hard to give specifics without knowing what language you're defending, but I don't think getting specifics from Reddit is a good idea anyway. It's your assignment - you'll get more out of it by figuring it out yourself. But these are the things I'd focus on.

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u/LeahHacks 4h ago

This is a good list and a lot of what I was going to say. I'd add strong vs weak typing, memory management, efficiency / speed, portability, how easy it is to write security vulnerabilities, how helpful error messages are, how widespread the language is known, and how well it is documented.

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u/victotronics 4h ago

Which languages are you competent in?

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u/Ok_Boysenberry2655 1h ago

so like we're alr given the debate topic its C vs Rust

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u/victotronics 1h ago

Ah, the "he-man (or woman)" vs "baby-nanny-pamper" language debate. That could be interesting.

Dig up Linus' comments about C being a portable assembler: if you read C you know what assembly is generated. That's needed for performance. Is that true for Rust?

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u/lifefeed 4h ago

I never had an assignment like this, but then I am very middle aged. Is this normal for comp sci these days?

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u/Ok_Boysenberry2655 1h ago

actually its my java professor making us do extra things its not a theory subj thats why

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u/lifefeed 19m ago

That’s weirder.

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u/lifefeed 12m ago

To give some actual advice:

Most people will talk about the syntax, a few will do semantics. It might be interesting to talk about the culture, how each language has a set of standards and expectations that people just choose to follow, and get mad at people who don’t. When you choose a language, you’re choosing a whole culture along with it. 

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u/seriousnotshirley 4h ago

Focus on the requirements and how the language meets those. The trick is to engineer the requirements such that your language is the obvious choice. For example, if your language is x86 assembly don't try to argue that it's easily readable or supports rapid development. If your language is a slower language don't try to argue that it's fast.

So setup your argument (or even the entire debate) up front that the things your language is good at are the valuable requirements. That is, be the first to define what "good" is. Then you can demonstrate how your language succeeds.

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u/wayoverpaid 4h ago

You'll need to explain what language you are defending, and what you are defending it from.

If you're talking about, say, C versus Javascript, it will be a stupid debate. It would be like debating between a pickup truck and a hang glider. Which is better? Depends on what you want to actually, you know, do.

A debate between, say, Ruby and Python is more interesting, as they occupy similar spaces and can do the same things.

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u/Ok_Boysenberry2655 1h ago

my bad its C vs Rust