> Wirth and Jenson got this right in Pascal, for example, so there was no
excuse for K+R to have messed it up later in C.
/>

 Different weapons with somewhat different targets - at least originally.

K&R & Wirth were contemporaneous enough in their initial releases to
(arguably) be considered sons of the same age.

Pascal is a Samurai Sword - single blade with 1 cuttting edge - safe enough
to the user unless they try really hard to hurt themselves. Easy enough to
kill yourself with if you insist.

C is a double ended Light Sabre. Two "blades" with 360 degree 'cutting
edges'. In the hands of a master it approaches machine language in power,
usefulness and degree of self harm that can be inflicted.

Machine language is a Shiraken ? :-).
(Probably a powered one).
(Almost useless in the hands of someone without a certain minimum level of
skill. All sharp edge. Not very powerful if not skilled in its use.
Optimised for self harm. Far more reach and power than any bladed weapon
that remains in the users hands.)


    Russell
    All metaphors are wrong.
    Some metaphors are useful :-)
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