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From: Chris Ahlstrom <OFeem1987@teleworm.us>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: C structure portability, naughty Python
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2026 06:42:21 -0500
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rbowman wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

> On Sat, 3 Jan 2026 07:03:38 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
>
>> I once created an audio playback app with class hierarchies in C, rather
>> than C++. It was an interesting experiment, and it worked. But that's
>> the last time I tried that.
>
> A class is a glorified struct. I remember heated discussions at one of the 
> Boston Computer Society's meeting before 'C++' became a name about 'C with 
> Classes' and whether a new language was needed.

C++ is wayyyyy beyond C w/classes now. Example: templates,
promises, futures, and a greatly expanded Standard Library (e.g.
the <random> functions)..

> 'C with Classes' is now a derogatory term that describes the sort of C++ I 
> write. Charles Petzhold has written a number of books on programming for 
> Windows. He has an intense dislike for C++ so if you can track down some 
> of the first editions of 'Programming Windows' they are all C. The 6th 
> edition was C# which he said was what should have been all along.

Does Petzhold still have the Windows tattoo? :-D

I was on a project where I had to use C#. Not bad, but I got a
good laugh at things like the "using" kludge to mimic the
exception-safety of C++ and that classes are always passed by
reference even though the function call looks like passing a
value.

> The C approach was educational since it exposed some of the magic lke 
> vtables, and the magical 'this' is only another parameter passed in the 
> first location. 

Python's "self".

-- 
Violence stinks, no matter which end of it you're on.  But now and then
there's nothing left to do but hit the other person over the head with a
frying pan.  Sometimes people are just begging for that frypan, and if we
weaken for a moment and honor their request, we should regard it as
impulsive philanthropy, which we aren't in any position to afford, but
shouldn't regret it too loudly lest we spoil the purity of the deed.
		-- Tom Robbins