Re: A Philisophical Question

Keith Thompson wrote: 
Skarmander <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
[...]

English is good for writing poetry in; C is good for writing computer
programs in. If you can write a sort of poetry in C, that's great
(Obfuscated C Contest, anyone?) but that's not usually what
programming is about. Elegance in a program is a quality not usually
propagated from its syntax (though ugliness might be).



Obfuscated C Contest are the equivalent of poetry written entirely in
words you can't say on television.  They're more pornographic than
poetic.

I'd say that depends on the nature of obfuscation. This is poetic to me, not pornographic:

#define _ F-->00 || F-OO--;
long F=00,OO=00;
main(){F_OO();printf("%1.3f\n", 4.*-F/OO/OO);}F_OO()
{
            _-_-_-_
       _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
    _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
 _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
  _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
    _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
       _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
            _-_-_-_
}

Not that that's a bad thing, of course.

Duff's device is poetic, I suppose.


It also captures the imagination by solving a problem in a practical way, albeit one that's not universally applicable.

S.
.

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