what do you like about the language, and what don't you like about it (as compared to other languages)?

I like the fact that I can achieve a solution to any problem using C and that solution (if well written) will be very fast to execute. Downsides are several: it's a dangerous language in that it lacks the checks that other languages have, it makes powerful facilities available to novices (it makes powerful facilities available to experts )Years of experience designing software using block-structured procedural languages have shown it to be the best available for all purposes. BTW, one other downside is afficionados using it when it's not the best solution (eg preferring Perl for string handling, php for knocking up prototypes and small web solutions).

Originally Posted by PaulW

...it makes powerful facilities available to novices (it makes powerful facilities available to experts )...

what i'm liking about what i'm reading about it so far.

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i'm actually favouring strictly-typed over loosely-typed... I can see what some of you are saying when you make reference to developing "bad habits" when starting out with a loosely-typed language.

"Strong typing is a crutch for people with weak memories" -- from the classic http://www.dcs-media.com/Archive/hum...-eat-quiche-AI A common problem with C is that people use facilities they don't need -- there's almost a pathological need to over-complicate and be clever. If you want a few good examples (although these are deliberately over-complicated) search for obfuscated C - a once-annual competition.

Originally Posted by PaulW

"Strong typing is a crutch for people with weak memories"

Just thought I'd emphasize that the author was joking when he said that

Originally Posted by PaulW

A common problem with C is that people use facilities they don't need -- there's almost a pathological need to over-complicate and be clever. If you want a few good examples (although these are deliberately over-complicated) search for obfuscated C - a once-annual competition.

I'd say that's a problem with people, not C.

If you are disciplined with your programming practices it does not really matter whether the language is "strongly typed" or not.

chris: a good point. I am a rule-nazi. I LIKE structure. I think that's why I favour a strong over a weakly-typed language. The freedom of a weakly-typed language is more forgiving... but it has a tendency of losing me in the freedom of creating a mess. Guess I am not that seasoned when it comes to designing the FLOW of a PHP script. (though I will say, not *that* difficult)

Which is why i'm finding this strict language thing a valuable thing to study.

Strong typing is more to prevent compiler errors than anything. It's easier to write a compiler that interprets a strict set of rules than a loose set of rules, and it makes the resulting (compiled) code more efficient because its interpretation has less conditions attached to it.

You're supposed to be able to write some C and know almost exactly what Assembly Language it will produce.

Originally Posted by wayfarer07

You're supposed to be able to write some C and know almost exactly what Assembly Language it will produce.

still learning about Bits, Bytes and Memory Cells over here.

not sure how far i'll go with C, but it holds my interest more than PHP


I imagine writing, learning, and incorporating Assembly Code and Machine Code into C and C++ progs would put someone at "Elite Wizard Status"?

Originally Posted by Lashtal

I imagine writing, learning, and incorporating Assembly Code and Machine Code into C and C++ progs would put someone at "Elite Wizard Status"?

I think there is a tendency for some programmers to become obsessed with the performance aspect of coding. Depending on the situation it may be more important to write code that is easy to understand and update, which means writing higher level code. IMO being able to objectively make design decisions like this is more important than being able to code in assembly.

A mature compiler can usually generate better assembly than what someone could write themselves unless they really know what they're doing. Usually when someone decides to incorporate assembly code it's because they're working with a performance critical application and the code they are updating is a bottleneck of some sort.

Unless you are certain there is a performance benefit and you really need that additional performance it is best to just stick with higher level code, if only for the poor guy who's job it may be to update it one day.

I believe "Problem Solving and Program Design in C" says something to the affect of: 80% of all applications coded, are eventually managed and maintained by people who didn't author the code.

Think the next paragraph said something to the affect of the importance of writing clear, understandable commentary to code blocks/sections.

Originally Posted by chrishirst

If you are disciplined with your programming practices it does not really matter whether the language is "strongly typed" or not.

Chris you are absolutely right. The thing that matters is the strong skills and commands on all programming languages.

thanks for pointing that out.

I like C# becuase its easy to handle rather then java or C++

Originally Posted by Lashtal

what do you like about the language, and what don't you like about it (as compared to other languages)?

I like C the most cause here there is no option for classes/objects. Here it's only logic that works and I love giving a logical solution to a problem in terms of programming.

The advantage of C is that it is the basic of all other languages. The disadvantage is that when the program extends it becomes difficult to fix the bugs, there is no runtime checking and no strict type checking.

what do you like about the language, and what don't you like about it (as compared to other languages)?

I prefer C++ because of the flexibility that classes (OOP) provide. However, I also like C because it's similar to C++ and actually can be considered as the "foundation" of C++, being originally named "C with Classes."

pros: very powerful
cons: very powerful

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