C's syntax (was Re: Python Formatted C Converter (PfCC))

[Steve Holden]

I don't suppose there's any chance you guys would take this thread
to e-mail, is there?  It's not that I object to your having the
discussion, just that my bandwidth is a little limited right now :-)

regards
 Steve

Alex Martelli wrote:
> 
> "Grant Griffin" <not.this at seebelow.org> wrote in message
> news:39FE7EC7.89DC9747 at seebelow.org...
>     [snip]
> > I hope you realize the non-applicability of your example.  (If not, I
> 
> No: it's a close analogy.  If somebody _in good faith_ was truly
> unable to spot some of the obvious defects in C's syntax (this does
> not apply to you, see later), then clearly his or her command of
> it, and experience using and teaching it, would have to be quite
> scarce -- just like, I suspect, the Italian knowledge of the
> average reader of this newsgroup.
> 
> > think there's a good chance the rest of us do. <wink>)  If, instead of
> 
> If someone (again, someone _in good faith_) truly could not see
> the analogy's full applicability, I trust they now can.  And I've
> seen posts from others, in direct answer to yours, clearly defending
> the relevance of my displaying my qualifications regarding C, in
> defense to baseless insinuations hinging on "not liking it" -- in
> a far more concise way than is my wont (you'll notice I _never_
> claim concision as one of my strong points).
> 
> > tangentializing about Italian,
> 
> Not a 'tangent' (quite differently from your repeated attempts at
> introducing meta-themes about 'bragging'...), but rather a strict
> analogy.
> 
> > you were to make any well-reasoned and
> > insightful points about failings in C's syntax (any at all: honestly, we
> > get more curious each time you dodge the question!) then there's a very
> 
> Far from "dodging the question", I have repeatedly answered it, making
> several "points about failing in C's syntax".  See, for example:
> 
> http://x58.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=685615011
> http://x58.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=685727921
> 
> You replied to the latter message, for example, completely failing
> to answer any of the points I had raised, but rather reiterating the
> feeble attempts at humour that appear to be your hallmark, as well
> as advancing your first attempt to sidetrack the discussion into a
> metadiscussion about 'bragging'.  That specific attempt having
> failed, you insisted in that purpose, apparently trying to drive the
> theme *away* from C syntax; and now, 6 days later, you claim I "dodge
> the question" of specific points on C's syntax?!  It's been a while
> since I stopped crediting you with being in good faith -- I just
> hope your obvious dishonesty can become as clear to other readers
> as it is to me (what is your motive, I could not care less about;
> like any other culprit of wilful misbehaviour, you're surely quite
> able to rationalize some excellent-to-yourself justification; at
> this point, though, it's only _other_ readers, people of good faith,
> that are of any interest to me).
> 
> I don't claim my points are 'well-reasoned and insightful', I claim,
> rather, that they are _completely obvious_ to any sensible person.
> Dennis Ritchie, inventor of C, an _eminently_ sensible person, does
> NOT try to 'defend' many of these peculiarities of C's syntax -- he
> accepts they're flaws, and _explains_ the historical accidents and
> mistakes that ['thanks' to the inevitable need of keeping backwards
> compatibility] led to such flaws being in the language's syntax.
> 
> > good chance that most everyone here would understand (if not agree.)
> > The reason is that nearly all of us here speak Italian...er, I
> > mean..."C".
> 
> So, to repeat one example, you claim to be SO deliriously happy that
>     if(a&3==3)
> does not test whether a has both lowest bits set, but just the
> _single_ lowest bit, that you can't even *understand* somebody
> (e.g., Dennis Ritchie -- or, me) considering this aspect of C's
> syntax a DEFECT...?
> 
> > p.s.  I'm really impressed with that stuff about co-authoring with a
> > prominent Italian linguist, but I'm still gonna say that when I helped
> > Al Gore invent the Internet, that was even cooler.  <wink>
> 
> Please see, e.g., the Korpuslinguistik at:
> http://www.uni-duisburg.de/FB3/ROMANISTIK/PERSONAL/Burr/corpus/biblio.htm
> 
> Your reference for your contribution to Mr Gore's "invention"...?
> 
> Alex

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