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  3. I love C where types are basically a suggestion rather than a rule

I love C where types are basically a suggestion rather than a rule

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  • L Lost User

    Unfortunately it's always in the native endianness, with no way to control it. An attribute for that is on my wishlist.

    Greg UtasG Offline
    Greg UtasG Offline
    Greg Utas
    wrote on last edited by
    #26

    The proprietary language in which I worked for many years standardized its endianism and took the hit, so intersystem messaging was easy. It was designed when memory was precious--unlike today :)--so it was easy to control packing. For example, a bool was a single bit, and an enum could be packed into the fewest bits needed for its enumerators (negative values not allowed). We would only pad a field when performance was critical.

    Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
    The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

    <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
    <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • N Nelek

      Member 14732673 wrote:

      In the end i left it alone.

      Really wise. Never touch a running system, unless you really know how to fix it :rolleyes: ;P :-D

      M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

      T Offline
      T Offline
      TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
      wrote on last edited by
      #27

      That's the fun! Make a change and watch it break and fix the break is the only way to understand ancient code.

      #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

      B 1 Reply Last reply
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      • R Rick York

        Then there are unions. Essentially a compiler-driven cast with no type conversions what so ever. It's in-memory aliasing. It takes casting to an entirely new level. I have found many good uses for unions. So has Microsoft - see the LARGE_INTEGER for an example.

        "They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"

        H Offline
        H Offline
        honey the codewitch
        wrote on last edited by
        #28

        Yeah, I'm aware - I even adapted the approach for C# using StructLayout.Explicit. It's just that declaring a union type isn't always called for. If you're doing the cast once or twice it doesn't make a lot of sense, so i do it when it's called for.

        Real programmers use butterflies

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        • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

          yeah, that'll work so long as you don't stash your structs pointers this way. :)

          #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

          H Offline
          H Offline
          honey the codewitch
          wrote on last edited by
          #29

          Yeah I try not to point into the stack for longer than the context of the containing function. :laugh:

          Real programmers use butterflies

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • D den2k88

            Yes to all of that. Elegant and concise. C++ is much more type safe, and yet it became heavy: hard to read and often very hard to write, a bit constrictive. C is absolute freedom, total power... and requires total responsibility.

            GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

            D Offline
            D Offline
            David ONeil
            wrote on last edited by
            #30

            den2k88 wrote:

            C++ is ... hard to read and often very hard to write

            Am I using it wrong, because I've never had these problems?

            “If we get $100,000, we will go to Potato blockchain.” Enable the dream!

            T Greg UtasG D R 4 Replies Last reply
            0
            • D David ONeil

              den2k88 wrote:

              C++ is ... hard to read and often very hard to write

              Am I using it wrong, because I've never had these problems?

              “If we get $100,000, we will go to Potato blockchain.” Enable the dream!

              T Offline
              T Offline
              TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
              wrote on last edited by
              #31

              Funny, I was thinking the same things. But then again, I've encountered code like the OP described. Usually written by electrical engineers.

              #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

              Greg UtasG 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                Funny, I was thinking the same things. But then again, I've encountered code like the OP described. Usually written by electrical engineers.

                #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                Greg UtasG Offline
                Greg UtasG Offline
                Greg Utas
                wrote on last edited by
                #32

                :laugh: You mean C++ that is no more than C or, even worse, FORTRAN?

                Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

                T 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • D David ONeil

                  den2k88 wrote:

                  C++ is ... hard to read and often very hard to write

                  Am I using it wrong, because I've never had these problems?

                  “If we get $100,000, we will go to Potato blockchain.” Enable the dream!

                  Greg UtasG Offline
                  Greg UtasG Offline
                  Greg Utas
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #33

                  Well, some of the template stuff out there... :wtf:

                  Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                  The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                  <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                  <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

                  D 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

                    yeah, that'll work so long as you don't stash your structs pointers this way. :)

                    #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                    Greg UtasG Offline
                    Greg UtasG Offline
                    Greg Utas
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #34

                    No problem. Placement new to the rescue! Sorry, wrong language. :laugh:

                    Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                    The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                    <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                    <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

                    T 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • H honey the codewitch

                      The cast operator is why I can cast my struct directly to an "array" of bytes and stash it in a file. It makes me happy. It's so elegant. So concise. And so dangerous.

                      Real programmers use butterflies

                      S Offline
                      S Offline
                      Super Lloyd
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #35

                      the file is also not compatible between architecture to the next! :( i.e. endianess for sure.. but probably computer struct paddings too! :/ though haven't used C in decades, so I am not so sure about that one...

                      A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                      H 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • S Super Lloyd

                        the file is also not compatible between architecture to the next! :( i.e. endianess for sure.. but probably computer struct paddings too! :/ though haven't used C in decades, so I am not so sure about that one...

                        A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                        H Offline
                        H Offline
                        honey the codewitch
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #36

                        Sometimes that doesn't matter. Sometimes you're writing software dedicated to a particular microcontroller and it expects the thing to be wired a certain way in order to run anyway.

                        Real programmers use butterflies

                        S 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • H honey the codewitch

                          Sometimes that doesn't matter. Sometimes you're writing software dedicated to a particular microcontroller and it expects the thing to be wired a certain way in order to run anyway.

                          Real programmers use butterflies

                          S Offline
                          S Offline
                          Super Lloyd
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #37

                          oh well.. yes if consumer and producer is the same one, I guess it's all good! :)

                          A new .NET Serializer All in one Menu-Ribbon Bar Taking over the world since 1371!

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                            Well, some of the template stuff out there... :wtf:

                            Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                            The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                            D Offline
                            D Offline
                            David ONeil
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #38

                            When that becomes easy to read, you know you are a real programmer!

                            “If we get $100,000, we will go to Potato blockchain.” Enable the dream!

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                              :laugh: You mean C++ that is no more than C or, even worse, FORTRAN?

                              Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                              The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                              T Offline
                              T Offline
                              TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #39

                              Yeah, that too. But yes, c++ that was like trying to interpret sanskrit.

                              #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                                No problem. Placement new to the rescue! Sorry, wrong language. :laugh:

                                Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                                The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                                T Offline
                                T Offline
                                TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #40

                                Yeah, but that processing the struct after-the-fact. Her technique is great for 'simple' structs.

                                #SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • H honey the codewitch

                                  The cast operator is why I can cast my struct directly to an "array" of bytes and stash it in a file. It makes me happy. It's so elegant. So concise. And so dangerous.

                                  Real programmers use butterflies

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Jorgen Andersson
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #41

                                  I've read this subject line several times now, wanting to point out what's so wrong with it. Anyway, I think you will love Javascript.

                                  Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger

                                  H 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • J Jorgen Andersson

                                    I've read this subject line several times now, wanting to point out what's so wrong with it. Anyway, I think you will love Javascript.

                                    Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello Never stop dreaming - Freddie Kruger

                                    H Offline
                                    H Offline
                                    honey the codewitch
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #42

                                    There's a special place in programmer hell for whoever came up with duck typing.

                                    Real programmers use butterflies

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • D Daniel Pfeffer

                                      [Program: Shoot in foot](http://www.personal.psu.edu/sxt104/program1.html)

                                      Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

                                      F Offline
                                      F Offline
                                      fd9750
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #43

                                      The one about Forth is right on the mark. :-D

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • H honey the codewitch

                                        The cast operator is why I can cast my struct directly to an "array" of bytes and stash it in a file. It makes me happy. It's so elegant. So concise. And so dangerous.

                                        Real programmers use butterflies

                                        F Offline
                                        F Offline
                                        fd9750
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #44

                                        I have been using C for+/- 32 years and still like it a lot. The fact that yes, you can do anything, does force you to be very careful what you ask for because you will get it. :-\

                                        H 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • D David ONeil

                                          den2k88 wrote:

                                          C++ is ... hard to read and often very hard to write

                                          Am I using it wrong, because I've never had these problems?

                                          “If we get $100,000, we will go to Potato blockchain.” Enable the dream!

                                          D Offline
                                          D Offline
                                          den2k88
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #45

                                          Neither did I, until I discovered I "was using it wrong" and had some "true C++ programmer" abusing templates lambda functions like there was no tomorrow.

                                          GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

                                          D 1 Reply Last reply
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