Comment by gipp
2 years ago
You know how when you first start learning to code, the kids who really "get it" right away start off thinking shorter code = smarter code = better code?
k always seemed like a bunch of those kids managed to become highly accomplished and brilliant engineers without ever breaking that terrible habit. Is there actually a reason to write these array languages (and interpreters for them, apparently) this way, or is it just a cultural difference?
> k always seemed like a bunch of those kids managed to become highly accomplished and brilliant engineers without ever breaking that terrible habit. Is there actually a reason to write these array languages (and interpreters for them, apparently) this way, or is it just a cultural difference?
They're more readable and less buggy that way. But unfortunately most programmers would rather spend 10 days reading 100,000 lines than 4 days reading 1,000 lines.
An occasional HN poster did a presentation a few years ago about his compiler, written in a similar sort of style: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13638086
less code less bug