C's syntax (was Re: Python Formatted C Converter (PfCC))

[Steve Holden]

Grant Griffin wrote:
> 
> Alex Martelli wrote:
> >
[braggadosio discussion snipped]
> >
> > Wirth used Pascal and Pascal-like languages in some excellent
> > articles and texts.  I strongly recommend "Algorithms Plus
> > Data Structures Equals Programs", for example, to anybody who
> > is looking for a classic introduction to imperative programming
> > along strict-and-statically-typed lines.
> >
> > And I have news for you -- his typewriter (or fountain-pen, or
> > goose-quill) was not ruined by the extra typing of := vs =, nor
> > did his publisher go bankrupt because of horridly high printing
> > costs.  The secret, you see, is that is very little extra ink
> > in the two dots of that leading-colon, so it's really cheap.
> 
> The cost in typing is negligible.  The cost in comprehension is
> exhorbitant.  After several years, I finally came to think of it as
> "_is_ equal to", and that helped a little.
> 
I always found that "becomes" worked perfectly well.

> (To be fair, I must admit that I sometimes brag about my own poor
> faculties. <wink>)
> 
Yeah, I made a terrible mistake last week: I though I was wrong about
something when I was actually right.

> > So, Wirth had no motivation to change that particular facet of
> > Algol.  Maybe there's a worldwide secret conspiracy of colon
> > manufacturers behind it (the same cabal who bought off Guido
> > to have him make the trailing-: in Python control statements
> > mandatory, when it could well have been implied by the line
> > end; notice that the manufacturers of _semi_-colons lost out
> > there -- they consume more ink, after all).
> >
> > > Actually, I think Backus was the guy who played "Mr. Howell" on
> > > "Gilligan's Island".
> >
> > Sorry, I'm a specialist in everything _except_ TV,
> 
> TV is one of the good things in life.  Live a little.  :-)
> 
Python has apparently been subjected to colonic irrigation in its
assignment syntax.  It would be interesting to know how much they
paid Guido to require those redundant colons at the end of the
statements which control suites.

But we never forget to put them in, do we?  (Well, in my case not
usually more than four or five times a day).  Back to the discussion
about warnings vs. syntax errors!

> > of which
> > I only know about a very few shows (Monty Python, Black Adder,
> > Saturday Night Live back when Belushi was there, the Simpsons...
> > i.e., the obvious stuff).  However, I suspect homonimy was at
> > play, since Backus was probably slightly too engaged inventing
> > programming languages, meta-syntax notations, techniques for
> > compiling and optimizing, and such, to moonlight as a TV actor.
> 
> Just for the record, Backus also played "Mr. McGoo"--athough one can't
> really say that his work there has the lasting significance of
> "Gilligan's Island".
> 
> > > people-who-take-themselves-too-seriously-are-endless-fun-<wink>
> > >    -ly y'rs,
> >
> > Are they?  Sorry, I don't know any.
> 
> Obviously. <wink>
> 
What a bunch of <wink>ers.

> > I do know guys who miss
> > the subtleties of deadpan humor -- you know, the type who'd
> > be unable to follow Monty Python without the laugh-track, or
> > equivalent "here-is-where-it's-funny" signaling devices, such
> > as smilies, tags, and bogus adverbs -- they're easier to spot,
> > as they often overburden their posts with such devices (like
> > the laugh track on a doesn't-manage-to-be-funny TV comedy, I
> > think the hope is to hide the unfunniness behind such signals,
> > although, of course, it does fall flat).
> 
> Actually, it's not so much about pointing out jokes which one fears
> would otherwise remain undiscovered, as it is about assuring one's poor
> straight-man that the joke intends no offense.  In that context,
> therefore, one should be quite liberal with them--especially with people
> who take themselves too seriously. <nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more>
> 
Know what I mean?  Your language goes a bit, does it?

> > When I feel nasty I
> > do find some fun in them, although, more often, in my typical
> > grandmotherly compassionate mood, I know they're just pathetic.
> 
> Pathos can be fun too.  (But as a Student of Comedy, you know
> that--heck, I bet you can even laugh at Charlie Chaplin with the sound
> turned down.)
> 
Next you'll be wanting to know what color Nelson's black horse was.

> people-like-me-need-a-12-step-program-(<wink>)-ly y'rs,
> 
> =g2
> --
> _____________________________________________________________________
> 
> Grant R. Griffin                                       g2 at dspguru.com
> Publisher of dspGuru                           http://www.dspguru.com
> Iowegian International Corporation            http://www.iowegian.com

regards
 Steve
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