Re: Brian Kernighan, maybe I'm not worthy, maybe I'm scum

[I'm reluctant to enter into this thread, for reasons that will be obvious
to those who know some of the history; nevertheless, I have one or two
minor and, I hope, objective comments to make.]

Randy Howard said:

On Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:09:43 -0600, spinoza1111 wrote

<snip>

Yeah, stay away, since you're a stalker and a cyberbully with nothing
to contribute here.

So you do want to be the bully after all. As expected.

Randy, you might want to consider whether resurrecting this nonsense is
wise. If you feed it, it will flourish, and I suggest that nobody is
likely to get any benefit from it.

<snip>

I /think/ it was cbf that came up with 'nilgewater' to describe your
drivel, but can't be bothered to look it up atm.

The first reference I can find is in 1992, from one Mitch Silverman. The
second is indeed a comment from Chuck Falconer.

<snip>

As I explained at the time, since optimizing compilers hoist loop
invariants, that's in general not a good idea from the standpoint of
readable code, since each "work" variable represents a deficiency from
the standpoint of clarity.

And as was /proven/ at the time, none of the compilers in general use
at the time (or now), as verified by multiple people, on multiple
systems, did the magic that you /thought/ they did. None. Not only
that, writing code that makes the author look stupid does not add to
"clarity", unless stupidity is the object you wish to clarify.

At the time, I posted the code on my Web site, together with an analysis of
that code. Since then, I've moved to a different ISP. The analysis can now
be found at <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/nilges.html>. I think
it's fair to say that a knowledgeable C programmer can gain a reasonable
appreciation of Mr Nilges's C skills, such as they are, by reading that
page.

Caveat: the page weighs in at around 90KB, and my upload speed is only
around 448Kbps max, so it might take several seconds for people to grab it
if the server is busy doing other stuff at the time.

<snip>

--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
.

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