Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!codonics!bret
From: bret@codonics.COM (Bret Orsburn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Compilers and programming style (was Re: A question of style)
Message-ID: <652@codonics.COM>
Date: 6 Jan 90 10:13:06 GMT
References: <649@codonics.COM> <4406@rtech.rtech.com>
Reply-To: bret@codonics.com (Bret Orsburn)
Organization: Codonics, Inc., Middleburg Heights, OH
Lines: 47


There's a smiley in here somewhere, I just know it! (Musta got blasted by
my Telebit :-)

But, just in case:

In article <4406@rtech.rtech.com> you write:
>From article <649@codonics.COM>, by bret@codonics.COM (Bret Orsburn):
>> 
>> Let me get something clear: are_you/is_anybody claiming that *all* isolated
>> pointer dereferences are inherently worthless ...
>
>I'm claiming exactly that.  To claim the contary, one has to assert the 
>following:
>
>1. Dereferencing a pointer is an absolute command to read the location pointed
>   to, unless *optimization* is allowed.

Where C is concerned, that is an admirably succinct and comprehensive
statement of my view. Thank you.

>2. A high-level language is a tool for generating a precise sequence of
>   machine instructions.

I would not assert that.

I would also not assert that C is a High Level Language, although there is
considerable room for disagreement here. I was taught that C is an
"Intermediate Level Systems Programming Language", but I would hasten to
add that I think both of those terms are too fuzzy to be of much use.

BUT, fortunately, the distinction is moot, because I also would NOT assert:

    An intermediate-level language is a tool for generating a precise sequence
    of machine instructions.

That assertion is too strong. Assertion number 1, above, is sufficient.

>I don't believe either of those.  I've done my share of hardware hacking, but
>in assembly language, as God intended.

Missing smiley goes here, I trust?
-- 
-------------------
bret@codonics.com
uunet!codonics!bret                 C Is Not Baroque
Bret Orsburn                          Don't Fix It