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   d (deprecated_ii@poa.st)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 15:31:00 JST d
   sounds great, why wouldn't you want to torture yourself for years to end up with "skills" you don't trust to do the same thing you could already do with another tool
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     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 15:30:57 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • :niggy:
     @niggy >I wish we could just get C but with basic modern functionality
     GNU C with fine GNU libraries (written in GNU C) is exactly that.
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     d (deprecated_ii@poa.st)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 15:30:58 JST d

     in reply to

     • Lichelord Godfrey
     @lichelordgodfrey it promises to solve the memory safety issues of C and C++
     
     but in order to do this, it puts you in a straitjacket, making nontrivial things extremely difficult to do
     
     but then, turns out you have to do unsafe stuff anyway, because that's how computers work, and your code runs on a computer
     
     so then the safety promise devolves to "well, it's still safer than C and C++ most of the time"
     
     except you could've just used Go instead
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     :niggy: (niggy@poa.st)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 15:30:58 JST :niggy:

     in reply to

     • Lichelord Godfrey
     @deprecated_ii @lichelordgodfrey I like rust purely for being the only real systems language with proper preprocessing/metaprogramming, you can't write a bootloader in Go
     C was designed for 1970s one-pass compilers that didn't even have memory to load whole source files, it's so painful for anything complex
     I wish we could just get C but with basic modern functionality
   • Embed this notice
     Lichelord Godfrey (lichelordgodfrey@poa.st)'s status on Saturday, 19-Aug-2023 15:30:59 JST Lichelord Godfrey

     in reply to

     @deprecated_ii Despite not being a coder/programmer, I keep hearing about Rust and every time it’s either someone shitting on it or someone reluctantly praising it but warning against using it for anything important.

     What is the purpose of this seemingly boutique coding language?

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 19:22:39 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • :niggy:
     @niggy >libraries can't improve the core language unfortunately.
     So implement extensions to GNU C and submit the implementation to gcc?
     
     >meta-programming and other fancy compile-time stuff
     Bloat.
     
     >the C preprocessor just isn't turing complete and is very limited
     The C preprocessor is intentionally limited and it is in fact Turing complete as evidenced by all the CPUs and other fun things implemented in C preprocessor.
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     :niggy: (niggy@poa.st)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 19:22:40 JST :niggy:

     in reply to

     • 翠星石
     @Suiseiseki libraries can't improve the core language unfortunately. main thing missing in C for me is meta-programming and other fancy compile-time stuff, the C preprocessor just isn't turing complete and is very limited
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     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 19:52:11 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • :niggy:
     @niggy >compile-time string obfuscation
     That sounds like security via obscurity only really useful for proprietary software obfuscation (i.e. in attempt to hide GPLv3 infringement) - which C doesn't support for a reason.
     
     When inspecting free software it's a feature for GNU strings to be able to give useful output.
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     :niggy: (niggy@poa.st)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 19:52:12 JST :niggy:

     in reply to

     • 翠星石
     @Suiseiseki an example friend is compile-time string obfuscation, that's something easy in other high-level languages, not really in the c preprocessor though. it's not a proper general-purpose language
     weakness of the C preprocessor is why GNU historically used m4 macros on top of C in build systems
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     :niggy: (niggy@poa.st)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 20:01:07 JST :niggy:

     in reply to

     • 翠星石
     @Suiseiseki yes friend it's common for evading AV signaturing. I like free software and GPL licensing but sometimes there practical use cases outside that
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 20:01:07 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • :niggy:
     @niggy So you're writing proprietary malware? Huh.
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     Chinese man ? #nobot (iamal_pharius@poa.st)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 20:04:20 JST Chinese man ? #nobot

     in reply to

     • 翠星石
     • :niggy:
     @niggy @Suiseiseki I like free software too. I have 4738273 free firewalls downloaded on my computer
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     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Sunday, 20-Aug-2023 20:04:20 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • Chinese man ? #nobot
     @IAMAL_PHARIUS 11/10 bait, made my link to gnu.org: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms