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David Ungar is giving a keynote on seven paradoxes of object-oriented programming languages at OOPSLA 2003.
His list:
1. Because programming languages, development environments, and execution engines are intended for both people and computers, they must both humanize and dehumanize us.
2. Adding a richer set of concepts to a programming language impoverishes its universe of discourse.
3. Putting a language's cognitive center in a more dynamic place reduces the verbiage needed to accomplish a task, even though less information can be mechanically deduced about the program.
4. The most concrete notions are the most abstract, and pursuing comfort or correctness with precision leads to fuzziness.
5. Although a language, environment, and execution engine are designed for the users' minds, the experience of use will alter the users' minds.
6. Object-oriented programming has its roots in modeling and reuse, yet these notions do not coincide and even conflict with each other.
7. A language designed to give programmers what they want may initially succeed but create pernicious problems as it catches on. However, a language designed to give programmers what they really need may never catch fire at all
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Seven Paradoxes of Object-Oriented Programming Languages