On Thu, 3 Jan 2008, Artem Baguinski wrote:
> On 1/3/08, douglas edric stanley <destanley_at_mac.com> wrote:
>> for(char*i="Hello"; *i!='\0'; ++i) std::cout << *i << std::endl;
>>
>> I'm sorry to offend all the robots out there, but
>> that's totally unreadable unless you understand
>> the underlying architecture of the computer.
>
> So, this program is more then just a sequence of characters.
>
> C++ is a language, not just "language", it is unreadable unless you
> learn it, and often knowledge of culture of C++ programming and its
> ancestry helps to read more in it. this extra can only be understood
> by human readers and is meaningless to computers.
>
> This fragment unambigously communicates to computer to print
>
> Hello
>
Actually, it communicates to the computer to print
H
e
l
l
o
> It also communicates to the readers of this list that C++ may look scary.
>
> It also contains at least two references to the programming culture:
> output of "Hello" as variation of "Hello, world!" and using of "i" as
> a loop counter.
>
> Further it uses unconventional code layout to stress the point it
> tries to communicate to us, humans.
>
> It fails to communicate much to non-speakers just as unfamiliar
> natural language would.
>
--
Mikael Vejdemo Johansson | To see the world in a grain of sand
mikael_at_johanssons.org | And heaven in a wild flower
http://www.mikael.johanssons.org | To hold infinity in the palm of your hand
| And eternity for an hour
Received on Thu Jan 03 2008 - 22:05:22 GMT