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  3. C is a better language than any language you care to name.

C is a better language than any language you care to name.

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  • P PIEBALDconsult

    DaveX86 wrote:

    Plus...no *.H files or #defines

    The can have my # defines when they pry them from my cold, dead hands.

    You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

    D Offline
    D Offline
    DaveX86
    wrote on last edited by
    #113

    :)

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    • P PIEBALDconsult

      Colborne_Greg wrote:

      the "with" operator

      ...is useless filth. X|

      You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

      C Offline
      C Offline
      Colborne_Greg
      wrote on last edited by
      #114

      Which is more readable to everyone, and which uses less lines?

      Public Shared Function RotateStream(stream As IsolatedStorageFileStream, angle As Int16) As WriteableBitmap
          stream.Position = 0
      
          Dim bitmap = New BitmapImage()
      
          bitmap.SetSource(stream)
      
          Dim WriteableBitmapSource = New WriteableBitmap(bitmap)
          Dim WriteableBitmapTarget As WriteableBitmap
          Dim Target As Int64
      
          With WriteableBitmapSource
      
              Select Case angle
                  Case 360 : Return WriteableBitmapSource
                  Case 180 : WriteableBitmapTarget = New WriteableBitmap(.PixelWidth, .PixelHeight)
                  Case Else : WriteableBitmapTarget = New WriteableBitmap(.PixelHeight, .PixelWidth)
              End Select
      
              For xAxis = 0 To .PixelWidth
                  For yAxis = 0 To .PixelHeight
                      Select Case angle
                          Case 90
                              Target = (.PixelWidth - yAxis - 1) + (xAxis \* WriteableBitmapTarget.PixelHeight)
                              WriteableBitmapTarget.Pixels(Target) = .Pixels(xAxis + yAxis \* .PixelWidth)
                          Case 180
                              Target = (.PixelWidth - xAxis - 1) + (.PixelHeight - yAxis - 1) \* .PixelWidth
                              WriteableBitmapTarget.Pixels(Target) = .Pixels(xAxis + yAxis \* .PixelWidth)
                          Case 270
                              Target = yAxis + (.PixelWidth - xAxis - 1) \* WriteableBitmapTarget.PixelWidth
                              WriteableBitmapTarget.Pixels(Target) = .Pixels(xAxis + yAxis \* .PixelWidth)
                      End Select
                  Next
              Next
      
          End With
      
          Return WriteableBitmapTarget
      End Function
      

      versus without

      public static WriteableBitmap RotateStream(IsolatedStorageFileStream stream, int angle)
      {
      stream.Position = 0;
      if (angle % 90 != 0 || angle < 0) throw new ArgumentException();

              int target;
              BitmapImage bitmap = new BitmapImage();
      
              bitmap.SetSource(stream);
      
              WriteableBitmap wbSource = new WriteableBitmap(bitmap);
      
              if (angle % 360 == 0) return wbSource;
              WriteableBitmap wbTarget = null;
      
              if (angle % 180 == 0)
              {
                  wbTarget = new WriteableBitmap(wbSource.PixelWidth, wbSource.PixelHeight);
              }
      
              else
              {
      
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      • P PIEBALDconsult

        Kenneth Kasajian wrote:

        Pascal

        Aaaannnd... how do you work with very long strings? Very large structures*? * Maybe only a problem with Turbo Pascal with its 64K per structure limit.

        You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

        C Offline
        C Offline
        Colborne_Greg
        wrote on last edited by
        #115

        With visual basic, actually most languages deal with strings better then C...

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        • C Colborne_Greg

          Which is more readable to everyone, and which uses less lines?

          Public Shared Function RotateStream(stream As IsolatedStorageFileStream, angle As Int16) As WriteableBitmap
              stream.Position = 0
          
              Dim bitmap = New BitmapImage()
          
              bitmap.SetSource(stream)
          
              Dim WriteableBitmapSource = New WriteableBitmap(bitmap)
              Dim WriteableBitmapTarget As WriteableBitmap
              Dim Target As Int64
          
              With WriteableBitmapSource
          
                  Select Case angle
                      Case 360 : Return WriteableBitmapSource
                      Case 180 : WriteableBitmapTarget = New WriteableBitmap(.PixelWidth, .PixelHeight)
                      Case Else : WriteableBitmapTarget = New WriteableBitmap(.PixelHeight, .PixelWidth)
                  End Select
          
                  For xAxis = 0 To .PixelWidth
                      For yAxis = 0 To .PixelHeight
                          Select Case angle
                              Case 90
                                  Target = (.PixelWidth - yAxis - 1) + (xAxis \* WriteableBitmapTarget.PixelHeight)
                                  WriteableBitmapTarget.Pixels(Target) = .Pixels(xAxis + yAxis \* .PixelWidth)
                              Case 180
                                  Target = (.PixelWidth - xAxis - 1) + (.PixelHeight - yAxis - 1) \* .PixelWidth
                                  WriteableBitmapTarget.Pixels(Target) = .Pixels(xAxis + yAxis \* .PixelWidth)
                              Case 270
                                  Target = yAxis + (.PixelWidth - xAxis - 1) \* WriteableBitmapTarget.PixelWidth
                                  WriteableBitmapTarget.Pixels(Target) = .Pixels(xAxis + yAxis \* .PixelWidth)
                          End Select
                      Next
                  Next
          
              End With
          
              Return WriteableBitmapTarget
          End Function
          

          versus without

          public static WriteableBitmap RotateStream(IsolatedStorageFileStream stream, int angle)
          {
          stream.Position = 0;
          if (angle % 90 != 0 || angle < 0) throw new ArgumentException();

                  int target;
                  BitmapImage bitmap = new BitmapImage();
          
                  bitmap.SetSource(stream);
          
                  WriteableBitmap wbSource = new WriteableBitmap(bitmap);
          
                  if (angle % 360 == 0) return wbSource;
                  WriteableBitmap wbTarget = null;
          
                  if (angle % 180 == 0)
                  {
                      wbTarget = new WriteableBitmap(wbSource.PixelWidth, wbSource.PixelHeight);
                  }
          
                  else
                  {
          
          P Offline
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          PIEBALDconsult
          wrote on last edited by
          #116

          OK, now use with to copy values between two instances.

          You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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          • C Colborne_Greg

            With visual basic, actually most languages deal with strings better then C...

            P Offline
            P Offline
            PIEBALDconsult
            wrote on last edited by
            #117

            Better than Pascal I think you meant.

            You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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            • P PIEBALDconsult

              Better than Pascal I think you meant.

              You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

              C Offline
              C Offline
              Colborne_Greg
              wrote on last edited by
              #118

              No I mean it's a waste of time. When you look at home long at takes to get a result and maintain that result visual basic wins every time.

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              • P PIEBALDconsult

                OK, now use with to copy values between two instances.

                You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

                C Offline
                C Offline
                Colborne_Greg
                wrote on last edited by
                #119

                You can't think outside the box can you. Usually I would do something like this to copy a class Public function copy(byval ojbectName as objectType) as objectType Return objectName end function There are many ways of getting values from one structure to another, not just with the use of methods. Lastly this points out that you should be utilizing different methods of programming to get a result instead of manually coding each line out.

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                • C Colborne_Greg

                  You can't think outside the box can you. Usually I would do something like this to copy a class Public function copy(byval ojbectName as objectType) as objectType Return objectName end function There are many ways of getting values from one structure to another, not just with the use of methods. Lastly this points out that you should be utilizing different methods of programming to get a result instead of manually coding each line out.

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                  PIEBALDconsult
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #120

                  Colborne_Greg wrote:

                  to copy a class

                  Not copying everything; just some values.

                  You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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                  • P PIEBALDconsult

                    Colborne_Greg wrote:

                    to copy a class

                    Not copying everything; just some values.

                    You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

                    C Offline
                    C Offline
                    Colborne_Greg
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #121

                    If you only want a few of the values use visual basic reflection.

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                    • S Simon ORiordan from UK

                      printf("Why is that then?");

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                      S Offline
                      Stefan_Lang
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #122

                      // No comment!

                      GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                      • C Chris Maunder

                        Discuss. I've just read The Unreasonable Effectiveness of C[^] and decided to outsource my ranting response to it

                        cheers Chris Maunder

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                        S Offline
                        Stefan_Lang
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #123

                        Funny, I thought the language to-go was Fortran?[^] :doh: Now I'm waiting on a corresponding article about COBOL ;P

                        GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                        • C Colborne_Greg

                          Visual basic 2013. It can utilize every C, C++, and C# library. Plus it looks pretty. For example the "with" operator is in Visual basic but is not in C.

                          S Offline
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                          Stefan_Lang
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #124

                          Have you read the article?

                          Colborne_Greg wrote:

                          It can utilize every C, C++, and C# library.

                          C can be plugged into any application in any language. The author is aware that C itself lacks libraries and he does mention it. So what was your point again?

                          Colborne_Greg wrote:

                          Plus it looks pretty.

                          Ah that. :doh: Ok, seriously. If you meant it has a better readability, that was mentioned by the author, too. So, again the question, what was your point?

                          Colborne_Greg wrote:

                          For example the "with" operator is in Visual basic but is not in C.

                          And it's in Pascal. So what? Again, the author made a point that other languages offer more (and often more complex) language elements - but that doesn't deterr him from listing a number of advantages of the language C that you failed to address entirely. Disclaimer: I don't actually agree with the article. I just wanted to point out that the article already pointed out or implied everything you said, and you did nothing to argue against it. (if that was your purpose)

                          GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                          • C Colborne_Greg

                            If you only want a few of the values use visual basic reflection.

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                            PIEBALDconsult
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #125

                            reflection ???!!! :confused: :omg:

                            You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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                            • M Michael Kingsford Gray

                              OK, I'll "bite". "C" is quite the most disastrous so-called "language"[1] ever to become popular. Why? It's total lack of marshalling over record boundaries in memory have cost the globe at least several 100 trillion dollars in viruses, damages, fornicate-ups, interminable repairs/patches, Trojans, injuries, deaths, et cetera. That alone is enough to relegate this incurable abortion of a syntactical nightmare to the bit-bucket, if not Spandau prison. Have at it, you "C" devils. ___________________________ [1] Designed for punch-card use, brevity & conservation of card-space were essential. It thereby became an impenetrably terse & line-break free mess. All calculated to save IBM punched cards. And the syntax is dangerously ambiguous, all over the shop. Don't get me started on the monumentally bone-headed notion that CASE statements should cascade through without a BREAK clause! I mean. What total idiot "thought" that this would be a great idea?

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                              S Offline
                              Stefan_Lang
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #126

                              Michael Kingsford Gray wrote:

                              several 100 trillion dollars

                              everyone can make up numbers. Just to get an idea of how ridiculous a claim yours is, check this out: http://xkcd.com/980/huge/#x=-11116&y=-7100&z=4[^] Even if the number you posted were accurate it means nothing at all without context, and you cannot provide that context either: You have to put it into relation to the amount of code written, and then compare to equivalent numbers for different languages. Anyway, the vast majority of really severe and costly bugs are not related to any specific language feature at all, and could have happened in many different programming languages. For instance the Y2K bug was born at a time when C didn't even exist yet: it was a conceptual decision to save memory. Something that at the time made sense for any program, and was kept that way, until people started to realize that it would lead to a problem! That[^] was a costly bug!

                              Michael Kingsford Gray wrote:

                              [1] Designed for punch-card use [...]

                              As all other languages at the time. And the punch card limits are no longer an issue in the modern C language (or other languages that survived: see Modern Fortran, Modern Cobol, etc.).

                              GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                              • P PIEBALDconsult

                                Michael Kingsford Gray wrote:

                                the monumentally bone-headed notion that CASE statements should cascade through without a BREAK

                                :thumbsup: Hear! Hear! That is (in my opinion) the very worst mistake in C.

                                You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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                                S Offline
                                Stefan_Lang
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #127

                                Maybe, but at least it's consistent with the goto/label syntax.

                                GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                                • S Stefan_Lang

                                  Maybe, but at least it's consistent with the goto/label syntax.

                                  GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                                  PIEBALDconsult
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #128

                                  Maybe, but break doesn't affect a goto. And I have never used a goto in C.

                                  You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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                                  • S Stefan_Lang

                                    Have you read the article?

                                    Colborne_Greg wrote:

                                    It can utilize every C, C++, and C# library.

                                    C can be plugged into any application in any language. The author is aware that C itself lacks libraries and he does mention it. So what was your point again?

                                    Colborne_Greg wrote:

                                    Plus it looks pretty.

                                    Ah that. :doh: Ok, seriously. If you meant it has a better readability, that was mentioned by the author, too. So, again the question, what was your point?

                                    Colborne_Greg wrote:

                                    For example the "with" operator is in Visual basic but is not in C.

                                    And it's in Pascal. So what? Again, the author made a point that other languages offer more (and often more complex) language elements - but that doesn't deterr him from listing a number of advantages of the language C that you failed to address entirely. Disclaimer: I don't actually agree with the article. I just wanted to point out that the article already pointed out or implied everything you said, and you did nothing to argue against it. (if that was your purpose)

                                    GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto) Point in case: http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/02/apple_gotofail_lessons[^]

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                                    C Offline
                                    Colborne_Greg
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #129

                                    Your signature has a line about GOTO The goto fail example is a major fail in general for the C language. The goto is the first thing every programmer should avoid, but in this example the GOTO's are used correctly, but its a limitation of the C language (one of the dumbest things in history I might add) Visual basic .net is C with English words and no bracket issue, the GOTO fail would never had been an issue in VB.

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                                    • P PIEBALDconsult

                                      reflection ???!!! :confused: :omg:

                                      You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

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                                      C Offline
                                      Colborne_Greg
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #130

                                      Interesting that your signature is "You'll never get very far if all you do is follow the instructions" fitting for this tread isn't it

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                                      • J Joe Woodbury

                                        You are arguing against something I never said. Specifically, nowhere did I say that the precompiler isn't part of the language. More generally, my point is that the information about the size of the array is known only by the scope of the array declaration at compile time; it is not contained in the array itself and available at runtime. In C, an array and a pointer are, for all intents and purposes, synonymous (with the exception of this very narrow edge case.) So, the [partial] function declarations a(const char* p) and b(const char d[]) mean the same thing. Doing a sizeof(d) for the latter doesn't tell you anything meaningful about the original array. This also means that you can take an arbitrary pointer and use array syntax on it. i.e. p[3]. This gives C an enormous power and flexibility found in few other languages. Attaching any other information to a pointer (or array) changes the very nature of what a pointer is and adds overhead that is often not desired nor wanted (and if desired, you can easily create a struct (or class in C++) with that information contained in it. This very flexibility means that arguing that arrays are problematic in C is a strawman argument.)

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                                        jschell
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #131

                                        Joe Woodbury wrote:

                                        You are arguing against something I never said.

                                        My bad - you are correct.

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                                        • P PIEBALDconsult

                                          jschell wrote:

                                          Rather certain that the precompiler is in fact part of the language

                                          Yes, and as he said in his response, he didn't say otherwise. Some points I'd like to make are: A language is defined by its compiler (not the other way around). DMR probably could have made C without a pre-processor; I see no reason that C has to have a pre-processor other than that it does have a pre-processor. The existence of D and C# may support this view. I have seen (I don't remember where) at least one argument that the C pre-processor acts on a different language than the C compiler does; and I am in about 90% agreement with that point of view. I like the C pre-processor; it's really just a text processing utility -- it can be used for purposes other than its primary usage. (I even use it with C# -- Implanting Common Code in Unrelated Classes[^]) Unfortunately, it also has some functions (e.g. sizeof) that are tightly bound to C. :sigh:

                                          jschell wrote:

                                          limiting oneself to just the "language" then C is in fact useless, since one cannot in any practical way do anything useful with the "language"

                                          You may be arguing that the language is pretty limited without libraries, and that is quite true, very little can be accomplished without at least printf -- I have written a simple program that calculates a value and returns it from main, simply to demonstrate that something, no matter how pointless, can be done without linking in any libraries. However, I think the article was also pointing out the ease with which a developer can leverage a multitude of libraries with C. Just the other week I was playing with ODBC, and linking in only the ODBC libraries and not the "standard C libraries". Of course, doing so still requires the pre-processor, as the Creator intended.

                                          jschell wrote:

                                          I am going to take their word for it

                                          Soooo... if Microsoft says that VB is the World's Greatest Language.... ? :suss:

                                          J Offline
                                          J Offline
                                          jschell
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #132

                                          PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                                          A language is defined by its compiler (not the other way around).

                                          No. Compiler theory is a very complete area of study in computer science and most perhaps all successful languages build upon that. And within compiler theory the compiler is an implementation, nothing more. And in terms of C, although perhaps not specifically this discussion, there are many ambiguities which the compiler is allowed to define but others which it is not.

                                          PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                                          I like the C pre-processor; it's really just a text processing utility -- it can be used for purposes other than its primary usage

                                          With something like 20 years of C/C++ experience I am pretty comfortable with what the language is and isn't.

                                          PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                                          and that is quite true,

                                          As I said.

                                          PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                                          Soooo... if Microsoft says that VB is the World's Greatest Language....

                                          Well first I was noting a technical point not a subjective one. Second K&R when it was written was written in a different style than VB, so even if the author(s) of VB made a technical point then I would be less inclined to accept it (which is true of C# and Java as well.)

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