Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: TeX and Pascal [was Re: The joy of FORTRAN]
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2024 15:39:39 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 36
Message-ID: <702010876.749514168.626514.peter_flass-yahoo.com@news.eternal-september.org>
References: <pan$96411$d204da43$cc34bb91$1fe98651@linux.rocks>
 <5mqdnZuGq4lgwm_7nZ2dnZfqnPSdnZ2d@earthlink.com>
 <vcub5c$36h63$1@dont-email.me>
 <1r0e6u9.1tubjrt1kapeluN%snipeco.2@gmail.com>
 <vcuib9$37rge$5@dont-email.me>
 <vcvuhh$3hroa$2@dont-email.me>
 <llhieuF8ej2U2@mid.individual.net>
 <20240925083451.00003205@gmail.com>
 <Pascal-20240925164718@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de>
 <mdd4j63pmo1.fsf_-_@panix5.panix.com>
 <oJ-cnQSrLZDYdGX7nZ2dnZfqnPWdnZ2d@earthlink.com>
 <vdatb6$1l4ch$8@dont-email.me>
 <vdauah$1lq1u$1@dont-email.me>
 <lltt6uF4fseU4@mid.individual.net>
 <vdcn1q$1tmdr$5@dont-email.me>
 <vddqoe$264fi$2@dont-email.me>
 <vdf4le$2cn51$6@dont-email.me>
 <vdh2l1$2p7e2$1@dont-email.me>
 <vdh3ku$2path$1@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:39:40 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="b5ab8cb6581eeba6c32253dbd04adb17";
	logging-data="3069129"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18jmFFV1gfm1ojd9k2XRMhL"
User-Agent: NewsTap/5.3.1 (iPad)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:m4qHoQFQ3FbY6IJLe1XseL7rxy8=
	sha1:JdEV0Il7TSjzktKcLuLHeKJ7N7w=
Bytes: 3029

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 01/10/2024 15:57, Pancho wrote:
>> In essence just because you can do something clever, doesn't mean you 
>> should.
> 
> That is what I loathed about compscis. As practising software engineers 
> we specialised in 'good clean workmanlike well documented and structured 
>  code'.
> Our job was to get the puter to do its job in the most understandable 
> and maintainable way.
> Not to impress people with the elegance complexity and 
> incomprehensibility of our  REGEX statements.
> 
> If all we had was vi and a C compiler, that's what we used.
> And knowing that
>  p=(x>y?3:2);
> produced identical assembler to:
> if (x>y)
> 	p=3;
> else 	
> 	p=2;
> there was a strong temptation to use the latter as being sufficiently 
> simple for the time serving amateurs whose failure to complete the 
> project was why we we employed at all...
> 
> We weren't employed to be clever. We were employed to write working 
> code. And document it.
> 

That’s one of the things I dislike about C. It can obfuscate a simple
operation like that. Maybe in the days to 10CPS TTYs terseness had it’s
usefulness, but it’s been long since time when it’s been better to write a
bit more in the interest of readability.

-- 
Pete