"Mark Hahn" <mchahn / facelink.com> writes:

> (Warning: contains philosophical ramblings)
>
> Is it possible that OO and other modern software technologies are
> only possible because of the advances in cpu speed and memory size?

Substitute "practical" for "possible" and I'd agree even more with
that.

> Is hw the limiting factor in sw evolution, or is software evolving
> on it's on.

Certainly, more available CPU horsepower is allowing the use of higher
level languages in more and more problem domains.

E.g. Java would not have flown in the '80's.  ;-)

> If hw is the limit, then you will always have to deal with the kind
> of problems you are discussing as you use more abstract constructs.

Absolutely.  Scripting languages work best for problems where the
performance is not absolutely critical.

-- 
matt