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The language hasn't evolved for the same reason a transistor hasn't evolved: because it didn't need to. Adding for example string manipulation, or graphics, etc
by squarefoot 7y ago
The language hasn't evolved for the same reason a transistor hasn't evolved: because it didn't need to. Adding for example string manipulation, or graphics, etc. would make it a fantastic language, but it would lose being that minimalist tool which makes it often the best choice when writing low level stuff. To me, Crystal, Nim, Rust, Go etc. already fulfill that need.
About the electronics comparison, I can build a lot of complex stuff more fast and more easily using opamps or logic gates compared to discrete transistors, but if I need to do a simple basic task such as invert a logic signal or amplify an analog one I'm using a single transistor any day because it doesn't just spare all that wasted silicon in chips but also in many cases it will be more fast, more cheap and more quiet noise-wise.
- ncmncm 7y agoWrong. Transistors have evolved in dozens of directions. The old transistors are still used, but decreasingly so. It is likely an op amp does better what your transistor and a bunch of other stuff did, and equally as cheaply. The op amp might have bipolar transistors in, but just as likely not. C has not evolved because C++ has, and because the computers got a million times faster, so even Python is usually good enough. If you need something that does what C does, but better, C++ is right there waiting. Change your makefile, or rename some files, and suddenly you have a C++ program, that is then easy to improve as much as you like.
- flavio81 7y ago>C has not evolved Well, it has, in a way: see the latest C standard and compare it with the Kerninghan&Ritchie edition.
- ncmncm 7y agoC has barely changed since 1989. It already had void and function prototypes copied from C++, back then. Only atomics and restrict make any real difference.
- flavio81 7y ago>The language hasn't evolved for the same reason a transistor hasn't evolved: because it didn't need to. That's what you think. Transistors have evolved a lot, as have programming languages.
- squarefoot 7y agoI meant functionally, ie what a single part (bjt, jfet, mosfet etc) can do. of course there are better materials and ways to produce more advanced parts.