Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM?

gmckee@cloudnine.com (Gary McKee) writes:
> The reason C is popular with coders is that, generally, they never
> have to maintain other people's code. I've never met anyone
> responsible for C language code maintenance who speaks well of the C
> Language.


salomon@silver.cs.umanitoba.ca (Daniel J. Salomon) wrote:
  > Have you ever taken a look at the code for the gcc compiler, the X
  > windows package, or LINUX. These are three huge C projects that have
  > passed from coder to coder and they are a mess. They are full of
  > comments like "I think this code is right," and "This code segment
  > disabled until someone figures out what it is for." Nevertheless these
  > projects are very widely used, and users appreciate the times that they
  > succeed more than they complain about the few times that they fail.


Your comment certainly substantiates my (implied) assertion about the
maintainability of C language code. I agree that gcc and etc. are
valuable and popular but this has little to do with how maintainable
they are.


Incidentally, I saw similar comments and code obfuscations when
maintaining Fortran IV code 20 years ago. It is depressing that the
FSF sponsored code products haven't been designed, implemented, and
maintained at a higher level of professionalism than what was common
in 1976.


What's that latin phrase about "the more things change, the more they
seem the same" ?
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Gary McKee McKee Consulting
gmckee@cloudnine.com P. O. Box 3009
voice: (303) 795-7287 Littleton, CO 80161-3009
WWW home page => <http://www.csn.net/~gmckee/>
[Well, pretty late Latin. -John]
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