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C is basically Algol with curly braces and pointers. The sentiment expressed there is probably equally applicable to C, or maybe Pascal. Those are often held
by retrac 2y ago
C is basically Algol with curly braces and pointers. The sentiment expressed there is probably equally applicable to C, or maybe Pascal. Those are often held up today as a minimal example in contrast to Lisp. There is a sort of sparse, warty elegance to the family. Blocks, arrays, if/then, assignment, while loops. What more could you need?
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoI've used both C and Pascal. The simplicity of C comes through to me (less so Pascal - the verbosity gets in the way). I never thought of it as "as natural as a branch of mathematics", though. I mean... I guess you could think of it as having its own set of self-consistent axioms, and from them you can build things. It's a lot larger set of axioms than most branches of mathematics, though. I guess, if Hofstadter meant the same level of naturalness, well, yes, C did feel pretty natural to me, so... maybe?