On Fri, Apr 29, 2016 at 11:22 AM, Mouse <mo...@rodents-montreal.org> wrote:
> > My gripe with C is essentially the same as my grumbles with APL--it's > > far too easy to write obscure code and not document it. > > "There is not now, nor will there ever be, a language in which it's the > least bit difficult to write bad code." Not quite true, of course; > there are languages in which it's remarkably difficult to write _any_ > code. But it _is_ true that there is not, nor (I believe) will there > ever be, any language in which it's substantially more difficult to > write bad code than good code. (Of course, some languages make > _certain kinds_ of bad code more difficult....) > > > Why it appeals to this particular foible of human nature has always > > been a mystery to me. > > I doubt it's C that appeals particularly. I've done my share of > writing obscure code and not documenting it (I like to think I've > learnt better, at least somewhat, by now), and C is relevant only in > that it happens to be the language I most commonly work in. I find the > same tendency showing up in other languages, anything from sh to DSLs. > > I have an end-cut saw that I've told my Spousal Unit she should not use. It's not a bad or defective tool - in fact, it's a very useful and powerful tool. But IMHO she lacks the 'situational awareness' to safely deal with an unprotected blade going back and forth several thousand times a minute. C is a lot like that saw - it doesn't have a lot of guards on it, and you can do stupid things. But you can do very powerful things that are difficult or impossible in, say, Python, which is also a very good and useful tool. Don't blame the tools - blame an educational system that doesn't teach software engineering practice, but just teaches tools. "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!" -- Ian -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."