> No, if you need pointer _arithmetic_ you are doing it wrong or using a
> language that is assembly in disguise. Pointers itself are fine and
> dandy, but don't *(x + 3 * i + 2) = *(y - 3);. Would you talk like that
> to a human? No? Why talk like that to a computer then? It's just a sign
> that something in the language is broken when you need to do stuff like
> that (except when writing a heap memory manager, I guess). But I mean
> when you need to do it like all the time, like for arrays (hello C :)).
> Also, by doing stuff like that you throw all bounds checking out of the
> window, so you could as well write it in assembly and spare yourself the
> hassle of using a compiler that brags all the time except where it
> matters.
I've decided that C is now officially the "learning" language for universities.
Students will now learn about all sorts of computer memory management in C, but
C will never be used for any practical purpose. It serves as the teaching
language of "what language we should never use but teaches us a lot about the
memory in a computer". It also serves as a language which makes a programmer
feel happy "I'm glad I learned C because it was 8 times harder just to create a
string, and now I'm ahead 8 times by not using C. If I wouldn't have learned C I
wouldn't have known I was 8 times ahead."
> > As an aside, I remain adamant that anybody who writes a free software/open
> > source program in Java is being foolish. What is the POINT of a free
software
> > program that REQUIRES a non-free program just to RUN ?
>
> I've also wondered about that.. I mean there is gcj and mono and such,
> but... why not do something that is better but our own thing... I've
> looked at parrot for a vm but it's tailored for interpreted languages
> only. sigh.
It's the same as Delphi users doing the JEDI project and allowing borland to use
their code without Jedi getting paid. Borland is smiling and laughing all the
way to the bank while Jedi developers are smiling, but not laughing to the bank.
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