3 ms·

> At this point, it seems clear to me we’ve just poorly designed our function. It solely exists to clamp numbers, so why would we accept strings? To me it soun

> At this point, it seems clear to me we’ve just poorly designed our function. It solely exists to clamp numbers, so why would we accept strings? To me it sounds like you are using a poorly-designed language

nenenejej 1y ago
Yes. Go for example doesnt need an is-nunber, nor do you need to worry about if a validation throws an exception and unwinds your call stack (or not)
quotemstr 1y ago
> To me it sounds like you are using a poorly-designed language Not language specific. A C example that comes to mind is checking every non-nullable pointer parameter in every function for NULL and reporting an error instead of just letting the program crash. (Please, don't do that: just let contract violations produce crashes.) The article's author describes a problem of experience and spirit, not a language wart.
- Turskarama 1y ago
  Let me blow your mind for a second: this problem is not insurmountable in language design, C is not a perfect language, and nulls are bad design.
- hnlmorg 1y ago
  But the problem is literally a direct result of language wart. The nullable pointer you’ve given is another great example of language wart. And one that’s often highlighted as a specific criticism against Go lang.
  - quotemstr 1y ago
    No, the problem is a result of sloppy thinking --- or no thinking --- about function contracts.
    - hnlmorg 1y ago
      Humans error. The point of programming languages is to provide an abstraction to make development faster and less error prone than writing stuff in lower level languages or even assembly. If your language requires you to manually track function contracts then that’s a problem with the language itself. Not the developer.
- ModernMech 1y ago
  Indeed, you've pointed out a second language in the class of "poorly-designed languages"
- whatevaa 1y ago
  C crashes with worst possible error, equivalent of "Something went wrong". Good luck debugging. Only core dumps reveal more information.
  - quotemstr 1y ago
    Nothing beats the old Unix tools. From https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html " golem$ ed ? help ? ? ? quit ? exit ? bye ? hello? ? eat flaming death ? ^C ? ^C ? ^D ? Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm the novice with verbosity."
mrweasel 1y ago
Can you point to a language that's doesn't have poorly designed aspects to it?

nenenejej 1y ago

Yes. Go for example doesnt need an is-nunber, nor do you need to worry about if a validation throws an exception and unwinds your call stack (or not)

quotemstr 1y ago

> To me it sounds like you are using a poorly-designed language Not language specific. A C example that comes to mind is checking every non-nullable pointer parameter in every function for NULL and reporting an error instead of just letting the program crash. (Please, don't do that: just let contract violations produce crashes.) The article's author describes a problem of experience and spirit, not a language wart.

Turskarama 1y ago
Let me blow your mind for a second: this problem is not insurmountable in language design, C is not a perfect language, and nulls are bad design.
hnlmorg 1y ago
But the problem is literally a direct result of language wart. The nullable pointer you’ve given is another great example of language wart. And one that’s often highlighted as a specific criticism against Go lang.
- quotemstr 1y ago
  No, the problem is a result of sloppy thinking --- or no thinking --- about function contracts.
  - hnlmorg 1y ago
    Humans error. The point of programming languages is to provide an abstraction to make development faster and less error prone than writing stuff in lower level languages or even assembly. If your language requires you to manually track function contracts then that’s a problem with the language itself. Not the developer.
ModernMech 1y ago
Indeed, you've pointed out a second language in the class of "poorly-designed languages"
whatevaa 1y ago
C crashes with worst possible error, equivalent of "Something went wrong". Good luck debugging. Only core dumps reveal more information.
- quotemstr 1y ago
  Nothing beats the old Unix tools. From https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.en.html " golem$ ed ? help ? ? ? quit ? exit ? bye ? hello? ? eat flaming death ? ^C ? ^C ? ^D ? Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm the novice with verbosity."

mrweasel 1y ago

Can you point to a language that's doesn't have poorly designed aspects to it?