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With C you need to pay attention to things like manual memory management which aren't necessary with other languages or to understand the material.

programmer_dude 4y ago
Manual memory management is optional. IIRC some version of the D compiler was written assuming an infinite virtual address space (basically they just did not bother calling free() ever)!
- melony 4y ago
  Is that why D is so prevalent among (some) quant shops?
- duped 4y ago
  There's a chapter in the book dedicated to memory layout of programs that discusses program segments, paging, implementation of malloc/free, etc that is more or less required before getting to the assembler and codegen stages. Even if you can write a compiler assuming infinite memory that generates programs that also assume it, it would be a disservice to readers to ignore that for brevity. It's an important part of understanding how programs are created.
s_dev 4y ago
Aye but these lads are building a compiler. Probably shouldn't hide things like 'memory management' at the introduction stage as use of memory is inherent to all computing and programming.
- dunefox 4y ago
  Sure, that makes sense, but you can write a compiler in languages that don't require it themselves. That's what I meant.
  - arinlen 4y ago
    > Sure, that makes sense, but you can write a compiler in languages that don't require it themselves. I don't follow your rationale. With C the developer manages heap memory by basically calling malloc and free. This means that once you have the memory model set, all you need to do to roll your compiler is to implement the interface. A language that "don't require it themselves" is a language which provides only high level constructs and dumps all the memory management logic to the compiler/runtime, from object allocation/deallocation to lifetime management. How is that simpler to pull off by a compiler writer?
    - Koshkin 4y ago
      The target language generally has nothing to do with the language of the compiler, where automatic memory management is just as useful (and also helps to minimize the amount of unrelated technical detail) as anywhere else.

programmer_dude 4y ago

Manual memory management is optional. IIRC some version of the D compiler was written assuming an infinite virtual address space (basically they just did not bother calling free() ever)!

melony 4y ago
Is that why D is so prevalent among (some) quant shops?
duped 4y ago
There's a chapter in the book dedicated to memory layout of programs that discusses program segments, paging, implementation of malloc/free, etc that is more or less required before getting to the assembler and codegen stages. Even if you can write a compiler assuming infinite memory that generates programs that also assume it, it would be a disservice to readers to ignore that for brevity. It's an important part of understanding how programs are created.

s_dev 4y ago

Aye but these lads are building a compiler. Probably shouldn't hide things like 'memory management' at the introduction stage as use of memory is inherent to all computing and programming.

dunefox 4y ago
Sure, that makes sense, but you can write a compiler in languages that don't require it themselves. That's what I meant.
- arinlen 4y ago
  > Sure, that makes sense, but you can write a compiler in languages that don't require it themselves. I don't follow your rationale. With C the developer manages heap memory by basically calling malloc and free. This means that once you have the memory model set, all you need to do to roll your compiler is to implement the interface. A language that "don't require it themselves" is a language which provides only high level constructs and dumps all the memory management logic to the compiler/runtime, from object allocation/deallocation to lifetime management. How is that simpler to pull off by a compiler writer?
  - Koshkin 4y ago
    The target language generally has nothing to do with the language of the compiler, where automatic memory management is just as useful (and also helps to minimize the amount of unrelated technical detail) as anywhere else.