Tools: Open Source C Isn't A Programming Language Anymore (2022)

Phantomderp and I have both recently been very aligned on a particular subject: being extremely angry about C ABIs and trying to fix them. Where we’re not aligned is why we’re mad about them.

He’s trying to materially improve the conditions of using C itself as a programming language.

I’m trying to materially improve the conditions of using literally any language other than C.

Now you might reasonably ask: “what the fuck does your problem have to do with C?”

It wouldn’t if C was actually a programming language. Unfortunately, it’s not, and it hasn’t been for a long time. This isn’t about the fact that C is actually horribly ill-defined due to a billion implementations or its completely failed integer hierarchy.

That stuff sucks, but on its own that wouldn’t be my problem.

My problem is that C was elevated to a role of prestige and power, its reign so absolute and eternal that it has completely distorted the way we speak to each other. Rust and Swift cannot simply speak their native and comfortable tongues – they must instead wrap themselves in a grotesque simulacra of C’s skin and make their flesh undulate in the same ways it does.

C is the lingua franca of programming. We must all speak C, and therefore C is not just a programming language anymore – it’s a protocol that every general-purpose programming language needs to speak.

So actually this kinda is about the whole “C is an inscrutable implementation-defined mess” thing. But only insofar as it makes this protocol we all have to use an even bigger nightmare!

Ok let’s get technical. You’ve finished designing your new language, Bappyscript, with first class support for Bappy Paws/Hooves/Fins. An amazing language that’s going to completely revolutionize the way that cats, sheep, and sharks program!

Source: HackerNews