A Lisp adventure on the calm waters of the dead C (2021)
10 months ago
- #programming
- #abstraction
- #C-language
- The text explores the conceptual essence of functions in programming, emphasizing their incomplete nature that requires supplementation with arguments to become whole.
- It highlights limitations in C, such as the inability to control the evaluation order of function parameters or to implement custom control structures like 'if' or 'while' as functions.
- The discussion extends to the lack of first-class functions in C, preventing runtime function creation and closures, which limits abstraction capabilities.
- Examples illustrate the desire for more expressive language features, such as conditional expressions that evaluate selectively or looping constructs with customizable parameters.
- The text concludes by noting C's limitations in handling code as data, manipulating functions at runtime, and avoiding pass-by-value semantics, which restrict language extensibility and the creation of new abstractions.