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I agree. You don't learn or know C++ in the way you learn or know C. You never have the total language spec in mind. Much of it you will never (and for some o

I agree. You don't learn or know C++ in the way you learn or know C. You never have the total language spec in mind. Much of it you will never (and for some of it should never) come across. The way I think of it C is an abstraction of the machine, so thin it's nearly transparent. C++ is an abstraction over programming paradigms, letting you pick how you think. Everything else abstracts the machine away, replacing it with a VM, runtime, or model of its own. The same way a good project has a clear model of the problem it should have a clear C++ pattern in use.

techbrovanguard 4mo ago
> C is an abstraction of the machine, so thin it's nearly transparent. Looks like someone fell for the C abstract machine trap yet again. No, C is isn’t an abstraction of the machine.
- poncho_romero 4mo ago
  C Is Not a Low-level Language: Your computer is not a fast PDP-11. https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3212477.3212479 https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3212477.3212479
  - bayindirh 4mo ago
    As a corollary, all processors are C VMs, anyway.
- skydhash 4mo ago
  It may not be an abstraction of a real machine. But the C abstract machine is very close to the foundational idea of how a computer work. And it’s quite easy to bootstrap.
  - rustyhancock 4mo ago
    Importantly my work involves me often being able to look at C and think about the assembly and back and I regularly work on ESP32, ch42(riscv) and atmega avr8. I couldn't do that with mciropython on any platform. C is a thin abstraction, python isn't.
    - pjmlp 4mo ago
      How much of it are C extensions not covered by the language standard?
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- nicebyte 4mo ago
  they're technically not wrong. C is literally an "abstraction" of the machine. As we know, the whole point of an abstraction is to ignore the multitude of details :-)
minipci1321 4mo ago
> C is an abstraction of the machine, so thin it's nearly transparent. -Werror might help with that

techbrovanguard 4mo ago

> C is an abstraction of the machine, so thin it's nearly transparent. Looks like someone fell for the C abstract machine trap yet again. No, C is isn’t an abstraction of the machine.

poncho_romero 4mo ago
C Is Not a Low-level Language: Your computer is not a fast PDP-11. https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3212477.3212479 https://spawn-queue.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3212477.3212479
- bayindirh 4mo ago
  As a corollary, all processors are C VMs, anyway.
skydhash 4mo ago
It may not be an abstraction of a real machine. But the C abstract machine is very close to the foundational idea of how a computer work. And it’s quite easy to bootstrap.
- rustyhancock 4mo ago
  Importantly my work involves me often being able to look at C and think about the assembly and back and I regularly work on ESP32, ch42(riscv) and atmega avr8. I couldn't do that with mciropython on any platform. C is a thin abstraction, python isn't.
  - pjmlp 4mo ago
    How much of it are C extensions not covered by the language standard?
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
nicebyte 4mo ago
they're technically not wrong. C is literally an "abstraction" of the machine. As we know, the whole point of an abstraction is to ignore the multitude of details :-)

minipci1321 4mo ago

> C is an abstraction of the machine, so thin it's nearly transparent. -Werror might help with that