Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Keith Thompson Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: What is C? Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2017 22:54:48 -0700 Organization: None to speak of Lines: 29 Message-ID: References: <830c4de1-bf1c-4526-8adb-b61f06a9f3c8@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="518c2254bac820b1cb24a1d9d6a93e31"; logging-data="21811"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/+oiRhA4TQFJe4x23yT+oC" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.1 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:qY7lEcfATZZQiY5AcTKWg4ZbEhE= sha1:a9lnTKXj0gAHYGK5S+fKnCK9Jig= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:108758 David Kleinecke writes: > I have taken a position as to what "C" means that is not > looked on favorably by several regulars on comp.lang.c. > But I think I have never been clear exactly what I meant > (I was probably unclear myself). I think now that I can > say exactly what I think. > > I would say that the C language is the language defined by > the phrase structure grammar. I usually use the grammar > from C89 but the later standards, so far a I know, haven't > changed it much. The grammar in K&R 78 is too incomplete > to use. > > The C so defined is incomplete as a programming tool. These > days there is both pre and post processing. But - as I see > the situation - neither are intrinsic parts of C. I'd say that the syntax is just one part of the language, and not the the most important part. In a sense it distinguishes between what is and is not a C program, but it says nothing about what any C code *means*. [...] -- 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"