From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: blake@mcbride.name (Blake McBride) Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2016 20:19:14 -0500 Subject: [TUHS] Comments on "C" In-Reply-To: <20160829004237.GC14366@mcvoy.com> References: <20160829004237.GC14366@mcvoy.com> Message-ID: After about 30 years of C, there are only three things I would have liked to see: 1. Computed goto 2. goto a line in a different function (more than setjmp/longjmp) 3. Easy / standard access to registers Computed goto's are good for interpreters. Goto a line in a different function makes it easier to implement languages with tail recursion without a trampoline. (Or perhaps require C to support tail recursion.) Some sort of standard way to access registers makes it easier to implement garbage collectors without resorting to assembler. Blake McBride On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 7:42 PM, Larry McVoy wrote: > I'm with Marc. I think the C syntax is really pleasant, and while I > enjoyed > writing PDP-11 assembler (by far my favorite out the ones I've done which > include VAX, m68k, 32032, z80, sparc, some x86 but not much), I don't want > go back to writing assembler unless I have to. C is a pleasant language > that easily compiles to assembler. > > I happen to like it so much I made a scripting language that looks very > C like, with some perl pleasantness tossed in (without all the dollar > signs). Check it out at > > http://www.little-lang.org > > 100% open source, actively developed, yada, yada. > > On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 06:37:21PM -0600, Marc Rochkind wrote: > > Yeah, OK, another one of those clever glib UNIXy aphorisms. > > > > But, as anyone who's actually programmed seriously in assembly language > > knows, C is not assembler. It is a system programming language low enough > > to be used for things that were once done in assembler, the most > important > > of which is an OS. > > > > So, for most of us, we no longer had to write in assembler. But that > > doesn't mean C is assembler. > > > > So, are we just having fun over a few beers, or talking seriously? I like > > both! > > > > --Marc Rochkind > > > > On Sun, Aug 28, 2016 at 12:21 PM, Dave Horsfall > wrote: > > > > > Seen on another list... And I got quoted by Steve Bellovin :-) > > > > > > -- > > > Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will > > > suffer." > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > > From: Kent Borg > > > To: cryptography at metzdowd.com > > > Subject: Re: [Cryptography] > > > "NSA-linked Cisco exploit poses bigger threat than previously > thought" > > > > > > On 08/25/2016 06:06 PM, Steven M. Bellovin wrote: > > > > > > > I first heard more or less that line from Doug McIlroy himself; he > > > > called C the best assembler language he'd ever used. > > > > > > Ancient fun-fact: Years ago there was an article in Byte magazine > > > describing how a useful subset of C could be directly assembled into > 68000 > > > code. Not compiled, assembled. > > > > > > C is a stunning assembly language. When those wild-eyed nerds at AT&T > > > decided to write Unix not in assembly but in C (where was > management!?), > > > it was radical. But C was up to (down to?) the task, it was pioneering > > > then and is still doing useful things decades later: From the fastest > > > supercomputers to some pretty slim microcontrollers (plus a hell of a > lot > > > of Android devices) multitudes of computers run a Linux kernel compiled > > > from the *same* C source code, with almost no assembly. Big-endian, > > > little-endian: no matter. Different word lengths: no matter. > > > > > > That is one impressive cross-platform assembly language! > > > > > > Unfortunately, C is also a dangerous language that mortal programmers > > > cannot reliably wield. > > > > > > -kb, the Kent who knows he is pressing his luck on a moderated > > > cryptography mailing list, but C deserves a lot of respect, as it also > > > deserves to be efficiently sent into a dignified retirement. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > The cryptography mailing list > > > cryptography at metzdowd.com > > > http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography > > > > > > > > -- > --- > Larry McVoy lm at mcvoy.com > http://www.mcvoy.com/lm > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: