O Plameras wrote:
> >pointers and pointer arithmetic are very difficult concepts
> >for people to learn. They are important things to learn, but
> >most people find them difficult.
>
> The problem with this statement is you generalize your point as if it is
> written in stone for most people to put into their heads, which is
> wrong.
If its so easy, how come you got it so wrong earlier in this
thread?
> Some people find it difficult to conceptualize pointers and pointer
> arithmetic
> which includes yourself I suppose because you kept on saying these are
> difficult to learn.
I happen to know Benno and also know that his C skills are well above
average.
> The reality of it all is anyone can learn C in one day and master it in
> one week.
That statement is simply ludicrous. One week's experience with a
language with as many subtlties as C is simply insufficient, even
for a person with a background in other programming languages.
I *really* think you should read this:
http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html
> By this I mean, after one week anyone will be able to read anyone's C code
> provided it is written correctly.
Reading is not writing. Learning a human language usually involves
speaking as well as listening, not just one or the other.
> >(And really C sucks for device drivers and low level stuff too now I think
> >about
> >it, its not as though C has a way to access x86 style ports, and its not
> >as though its structs are tightly defined enough so you can just use them
> >to describe device memory layouts, although people do and rely on how the
> >compiler works.)
>
> I do not know if you heard about the seven blind men who went to visit
> an elephant in order to describe what an elephant is.
Yes, its a lovely story. However, Benno spends 40 plus hours a week
writing OS kernel (not Linux) code and device drivers in C. Few people
on this list are more qualified to say that C is a bad language for
this task than Benno.
Erik
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Erik de Castro Lopo
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
"Copyrighting allows people to benefit from their labours,
but software patents allow the companies with the largest
legal departments to benefit from everyone else's work."
-- Andrew Brown
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1387575,00.html)
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