3 ms·
Correct, fast, and maintainable C code is a very tall order. Good luck finding ANYONE who can do that consistently for a reasonable paycheck.
by kctess5 10y ago
Correct, fast, and maintainable C code is a very tall order. Good luck finding ANYONE who can do that consistently for a reasonable paycheck.
- DanWaterworth 10y agoApparently it didn't have to be C or blazing fast.
- vvanders 10y agoHuh, it's almost as if the foundation of all the devices we use on a daily basis are written in some language that apparently isn't possible to write correctly.
- DanWaterworth 10y agoThat's basically true.
- pshc 10y agoThey are mostly reliable (though probably still full of security holes) despite C—made possible by the millions of person-hours thrown at the problem of maintaining large C codebases. Back then, we had no choice. We can do better.
- DanWaterworth 10y agoEssentially all but the most used code-paths with be bug riddled. This paper [1] on finding bugs in C compilers by fuzzing is an interesting case-study. [1] http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4241 http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4241
- astrange 10y agoServer programming isn't even that hard. You could do it in C all day. (Just have good sandboxing for when someone finds an exploit...) Millions of people have been writing C for games, firmware, computer systems without Internet since the 80s on, and they didn't even get software updates. If your server crashes you get a coredump and you can update anytime you want.
- ssalazar 10y agos/isn't possible to write correctly/is difficult to write correctly cheaply in non-trivial applications/ and you pretty much have it. Building higher-level abstractions has historically been a good thing, unless your day job is punching in opcodes.
- vvanders 10y agoI was more poking fun at the hyperbole that it's not possible to hire anyone who writes C at a reasonable rate.