Avoiding the Age of C++

While I am on the subject of Luca Cardelli I should point out the slides to his autobiographical talk An Accidental Simula User which provide an excellent background on the motivations and significance of his work.  I cannot resist quoting one sentence:

Java allowed me to move from one type safe language (Modula-3) to another, narrowly avoiding the entire age of C++!

Lucky man!

You might notice that Cardelli ignores the common advice about not putting too much information on overhead projector slides.  However, I think it is better to regard his slides as a colourful magazine-style article meant to be read on-screen and, as this, they are rather good.  (You might also note that Cardelli's web-site would never win any awards for web-site design but, after all, it's the content that matters.)