Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/12/16/18:01:04
"John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com> wrote:
>Hans 'the Beez' Bezemer wrote:
>My point is that it's best to teach a beginning C programmer standard C
>right out of the book. Teach him the fundamentals and be sure he has
>them right, then let him progress to the more complex stuff. I am very
>wary of anything that promises to be a "shortcut."
In the real world, you sometimes just don't have the time. EasyC hangs on
Pascal, but I know of companies that use a FORTRAN kind of interface.
>Umm, I would like to point out here that 'void' did not exist in
>pre-ANSI compilers. A K&R definition of main might look like "main()",
>or "int main()", but never "void main()". The 'void' construct was
>probably introduced by programmers who were too lazy to put a 'return'
>statement at the end of main(), and who then wrote books and taught
>courses that passed on their flawed methodology. Perhaps, at some
>point, they stressed that "void main()" is not correct, but by then it
>was too late.
Turbo C emerged just before the final ANSI-C standard was created. Around '85
or '86 I believe. I still use it even now, because it has great functionality,
very few bugs (after the patches) and takes about 1 MB.
>> C'mon. There is a 1:1 relation between the keywords and the C equivalents.
>Then why bother to translate them at all? As soon as users of this
>compiler go on to use another, they'll be totally lost.
To give people some focal points. Even die-hard C programmers have problems
with COBOL, because there are no symbols to focus on ( MOVE A TO B vs. B = A;
). Making it easier to read for people makes it easier to comprehend and easier
to find bugs.
EasyC works on all compilers I've encountered so far. Once they've really
mastered the trick, they have less problems to go to the real thing. Although
in the very beginning, I must admit, there are some mistakes. ;)
Hans
P.S. I know this issue creates great controversary here and we won't solve the
issue here. As far as I'm concerned, we just move away from the main issue. If
there are any C programmers down there who will only use the package when
written in the "one true C", email me and I'll create it (next year; during the
holidays I'm not too close to my computer). I'm a heretic and I won't be
converted, but I'm quite practical too.
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