I'm sorry, C is Voldemort? Buddy, you don't know from evil.
If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
41–50 of 63 posts
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#42Looked at article just to confirm that Perl would be Ron Weasley. Yep. This is why he's my favorite character.
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#43Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#44Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#45I'm surprised that people consider C a dead language. C is very much one of the most used and needed language in the world, especially if the Internet of Things hype keeps on getting stronger. And of course all the current billions of lines of C didn't just disappear to be replaced by Python ( as much as I like Python). Your OS and core programs are still getting new versions from times to times, even if you don't di…
C isn't dead. However, it serves two niche roles—glue code and super portable system code. It's dead in the sense that it's not growing—the unique use cases of it are forever shrinking.
By glue code you mean things like most common Foreign Interface semantics ?
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#46I'm surprised that people consider C a dead language. C is very much one of the most used and needed language in the world, especially if the Internet of Things hype keeps on getting stronger. And of course all the current billions of lines of C didn't just disappear to be replaced by Python ( as much as I like Python). Your OS and core programs are still getting new versions from times to times, even if you don't di…
C isn't dead. However, it serves two niche roles—glue code and super portable system code. It's dead in the sense that it's not growing—the unique use cases of it are forever shrinking.
It is also useful for rewriting routines in the critical path for slower, but more productive languages. Particularly languages that need to do a lot of heavy-duty data crunching (think Python, R, Matlab, Octave).
I mean, I guess you could do that in C++ instead. But why would you bother if C is good enough (and it typically is for most numerical algorithms).
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#47what, Ruby is not in the list? Is Harry Potter popular enough?
I mean, you gotta do Python == Harry Potter for the Parselmouth joke.
Ruby is a language which eschews strict rules in order to be more chummy and get more done, but has a dark side (with monkey-patching and less discipline than Python). Ruby is clearly Sirius Black.
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#48I'm surprised that people consider C a dead language. C is very much one of the most used and needed language in the world, especially if the Internet of Things hype keeps on getting stronger. And of course all the current billions of lines of C didn't just disappear to be replaced by Python ( as much as I like Python). Your OS and core programs are still getting new versions from times to times, even if you don't di…
C was compared to Voldemort, and Harry to Python. If I am recalling my Harry Potter correctly:
Upon revealing that Harry would receive a wand that was a counterpart to Voldemort's: "...I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter. After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#49Can Wolfram Language be Gilderoy Lockhart?
Re: If programming languages were Harry Potter characters
#50What about Lisps? Also, it would be interesting to read about comparisons between programming languages and naturals ones. What's the most elegant natural language in the world that could be said to be the Scheme of natural languages?
Common Lisp: maybe an Animagus, like Sirius Black. Or maybe Alastor Maugrey (Mad Eye), who is quite powerful but is not necessarly attractive.
I like the Sirius Black comparison. Was influential during the previous generation's rise to power but broken promises (A.I. Winter) forced him to scrape by in the background for a while. Nowadays people who know him realize his power, but to most people he is a shady character from the past.