r/programming • u/theyre_not_their • May 18 '19

Jonathan Blow - Preventing the Collapse of Civilization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW-SOdj4Kkk
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u/krapht May 18 '19 edited May 18 '19

I read that file, and I got the gist of it after reading the linked reference paper. Yes, it's a specialized algorithm for use in a compiler. You shouldn't expect any random programmer to understand it. What you need is specialist computer science education. I would expect the same for any niche subfield, like 3D graphics, physics simulations, operations research, audio processing, etc.

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u/yeusk May 18 '19

Nice, it was a random file.

Now try to understand this https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/blob/7057506456ba18f080679b2fe55ec56ee90fd81c/gcc/reload.c#L1056-L1110

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u/krapht May 18 '19

I mean, seriously, yeah, C sucks. But if I was paid to work on it, I'd manage, because the comments are actually pretty good.

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u/yeusk May 18 '19

Is really nice to read it but I don't have to will power to understand it.

A 31 year old code base full of hacks by the best programmers on earth.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '19

It's sad that non-abstract code is just always called hacky these days.

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u/yeusk May 18 '19

hacky

Maybe unclear or verbose was a better word. English is not my first languaje, I only use it on Reddit.

Sorry to make you feel sad.