Re: [Axiom-developer] RE: TeXmacs+Axiom

[Ralf Hemmecke]

On 05/21/2007 03:40 AM, Gabriel Dos Reis wrote:
> "Bill Page" <address@hidden> writes:
>
> [...]
>
> | > I don't understand C very well,
> | 
> | Every time someone on this list says "I don't understand X"
> | but they already program in Aldor/Spad/Lisp or whatever, it
> | makes me wonder about their motivations as opposed to their
> | skill ... :-)

I did not say that I cannot read C at all, but it is one of the 
languages that I had never much need to learn by heart.

And my motivations are "programming mathematics". C is an assembly 
language for me.

> | "C" is a particularly simple language.
>
> Fully agreed.

Of course, every one (also those not knowledgable in C) know how to parse

   int *x[5]

I find

  (int *)[5] x

or

  (int[5]) * x

easier to understand.

Of course I could learn C and do a project to become fully acquaint with 
it. But that would probably cost me several months.

If, however programs were literate, I could perhaps even improve them 
without being an every day C programmer.

I hope you understand that this was my point and not whether someone can 
program in this or that language.

Programming a Turing machine is also a very simple, but not very 
practical if you your motivations lie in the implementation of mathematics.

Ralf