Path: csiph.com!news.mixmin.net!eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Tim Rentsch Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: you think rust may outthrone c? Date: Sat, 05 Aug 2023 10:22:56 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 48 Message-ID: <86fs4xflov.fsf@linuxsc.com> References: <875y6dne2u.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> <3ff53ffd-299b-4dc8-a503-cfd170ce3e03n@googlegroups.com> <87ila9laoa.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <20230724112620.132@kylheku.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="943f511331d2b471aa1b6ebff38979e9"; logging-data="1922952"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18NundoWlGV0juLd/oXphT4eIpEjKQMwAk=" User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:XyI4mYKL1zefaHC9hGiJSlKhYTQ= sha1:CF+TEkylA5qKAVSuFpIx+FRgXOI= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:171688 Kaz Kylheku <864-117-4973@kylheku.com> writes: > On 2023-07-24, Ben Bacarisse wrote: > >> Bart writes: >> >>> On 24/07/2023 08:50, David Brown wrote: >>> >>>> Integer constants (since that is the correct term - "literal" >>>> is only used for "string literal" in C) >>> >>> You're right, the C standard only uses that for string literals >>> and compound literals. But in the wider world, 'integer >>> literal' is commonly used to mean 'integer constant', including >>> in this C++ reference: >>> >>> https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/integer_literal >> >> Yes, C++ calls them literals. But that site does use the same >> terminology as the C standard when talking about C: >> >> https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/language/integer_constant >> >> I prefer C++'s usage, since "integer constant" can be so easily >> confused for "integer constant expression". > > The term "literal constant" has a well-entrenched meaning in computer > science. > > "literal" is a contraction of this, just like "deliverable" is short for > "deliverable goods" and what not. > > "constant" is another contraction of "literal constant". > > [...] I see Kaz has been taking lessons from Kellyanne Conway, offering up "alternative facts". No doubt the phrase "literal constant" is used in many places that discuss programming, but it is not a term with any special meaning, simply an ordinary phrase put together under the usual rules of normal English usage, with "literal" being an adjective modifying "constant". The point of the phrase is to distinguish it from "symbolic constant", which many programming languages have going back at least as far as the early 1970s. Furthermore none of that has any bearing on the use of "literal" as a noun by itself, which is a distinct and unrelated construction.