Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!1.eu.feeder.erje.net!news.swapon.de!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Keith Thompson Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Understandability Date: Fri, 01 May 2015 19:41:38 -0700 Organization: None to speak of Lines: 29 Message-ID: <87oam3og4d.fsf@kst-u.example.com> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="9be37d943435275679235b07c7947eef"; logging-data="10231"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+QAzISxd3o1jF76NRCBo1l" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:KjdIJIeXq83hBYs+HVq0boT9ISg= sha1:CEQOWr31fYXZo/oFxqjzCLIhkoM= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:61364 David Kleinecke writes: > I googled "gcc tutorial" and looked at each hit. Two of the hits on > the first page are not really about gcc. Here are the title and first > sentence of the of the other hits: [snip] > Not a single one starts with a statement about what gcc is and does. > A tutorial is for beginners and I would expect a tutorial for gcc to > begin more or less like > > Gcc is a computer program that reads human-readable program code > and rewrites (compiles) it as code the machine understand. It is > called a compiler. It appears that the authors assumed that the reader knows what a "compiler" is. I tend to think that's a reasonable assumption. I suspect that most people who don't know what a compiler is (and no doubt there are plenty of them) wouldn't be looking for a gcc tutorial in the first place. Perhaps I'm mistaken on that point -- but anyone reading an online tutorial will have access to search engines and Wikipedia. -- Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc. "We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this." -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"