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What really made computers click to me was reading a book that had the premise: "learn just enough assembly to be able to implement C features by hand; we'll sh

What really made computers click to me was reading a book that had the premise: "learn just enough assembly to be able to implement C features by hand; we'll show you how". Sadly, I don't remember the title. Another revelation much later on, was, as discussed here, the realisation that C is indeed defined over an abstract machine. I think much of those realisations were because of reading about how crazy compiler optimizations can be and how UB can _actually_ do anything.

kungtotte 8y ago
IIRC there was some UB feature that when compiled with GCC would launch nethack.
- parliament32 8y ago
  Found it: >When GCC identified “bad” C++ code, it tried to start NetHack, Rogue, or Towers of Hanoi. Failing all three, it would just print out a nice, cryptic error message. https://feross.org/gcc-ownage/ https://feross.org/gcc-ownage/
  - westmeal 8y ago
    Alright, that is pretty awesome.
  - monocasa 8y ago
    The description is a little off. It was more a C thing than a C++ thing. And it was invoked by using any pragma; the gcc developers at the time had borderline religious objections to the idea of pragmas.
another-cuppa 8y ago
Sounds a bit like "Programming from the Ground Up" [1]. [1] https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/pgubook/ https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/pgubook/
- hondadriver 8y ago
  Or maybe just Professional Assembly Language [1] [1] http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/Professional-Assembly-Language.productCd-0764579010.html http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/Professional-Assembly...
  - bigmit37 8y ago
    Will check this out as well as the book above. Thank you.
kbenson 8y ago
I have to ask, because I've wondered for a couple years now, is your name a One Piece reference?
- GolDDranks 8y ago
  Yes it is! Thank you for noticing!
  - kbenson 8y ago
    Nice! As of a couple months ago I'm actually going through the anime series again with my 9 year old. It's interesting getting his take on the characters, since it's a bit different than mine (and he's way younger than I was when I first watched it). For example, he's mostly bored by any Zoro fights, likely because at this point they are a lot of before and after cuts, but Zoro was always one of my favorite characters. We'll see if that continues, we're only just finishing the Spypeia arc. I will say, waiting until he was capable and willing to read the subbed version was probably the right choice. Dubbed shows of any genre drive me nuts, and I'm not sure he would have the patience for the series if he was younger (the Alabasta arc was still taxing...). I do take a perverse pleasure in hinting about how crazy stuff becomes later, while also convincing him to not ruin it for himself by looking it up. ;)

kungtotte 8y ago

IIRC there was some UB feature that when compiled with GCC would launch nethack.

parliament32 8y ago
Found it: >When GCC identified “bad” C++ code, it tried to start NetHack, Rogue, or Towers of Hanoi. Failing all three, it would just print out a nice, cryptic error message. https://feross.org/gcc-ownage/ https://feross.org/gcc-ownage/
- westmeal 8y ago
  Alright, that is pretty awesome.
- monocasa 8y ago
  The description is a little off. It was more a C thing than a C++ thing. And it was invoked by using any pragma; the gcc developers at the time had borderline religious objections to the idea of pragmas.

another-cuppa 8y ago

Sounds a bit like "Programming from the Ground Up" [1]. [1] https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/pgubook/ https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/pgubook/

hondadriver 8y ago
Or maybe just Professional Assembly Language [1] [1] http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/Professional-Assembly-Language.productCd-0764579010.html http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/Professional-Assembly...
- bigmit37 8y ago
  Will check this out as well as the book above. Thank you.

kbenson 8y ago

I have to ask, because I've wondered for a couple years now, is your name a One Piece reference?

GolDDranks 8y ago
Yes it is! Thank you for noticing!
- kbenson 8y ago
  Nice! As of a couple months ago I'm actually going through the anime series again with my 9 year old. It's interesting getting his take on the characters, since it's a bit different than mine (and he's way younger than I was when I first watched it). For example, he's mostly bored by any Zoro fights, likely because at this point they are a lot of before and after cuts, but Zoro was always one of my favorite characters. We'll see if that continues, we're only just finishing the Spypeia arc. I will say, waiting until he was capable and willing to read the subbed version was probably the right choice. Dubbed shows of any genre drive me nuts, and I'm not sure he would have the patience for the series if he was younger (the Alabasta arc was still taxing...). I do take a perverse pleasure in hinting about how crazy stuff becomes later, while also convincing him to not ruin it for himself by looking it up. ;)