Grr...

[wolfwings]

...I hate C++. Without automated tools, there's no way to guarantee, without a doubt, that the code does what it looks like it does. Even standard assumptions can be over-ridden, and far too often are in example C++ code to make the code make 'more sense' to the original coder. But in the process making it vastly harder to parse and understand to a layman trying to port the code elsewhere.

Currently picking through Matt Timmermans Bijective Arithmetic/Range Coding Compressor and (very slowly) shambling through converting it to straight C instead of a heap of C++ files for some very simple code bits of code.

And yes, this ties in vaguely to my old WikiCode idea. And no, my usual complaints about C++ don't all apply to the linked-to code, but are a complaint with the basic design of the language.

Comments

Re: It's not that it's bad.

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

Not actually writing anything-sensitive code. It's for a project I'm working on I've nicknamed Easy2Port, which focusses on breaking fancy computer tidbits down to basic math operations. First thing I tackled was back-converting a very cutting-edge range coder to math steps and small, modular functions easy enough for a beginning programmer to understand.

The resulting code ends up passably fast because it's so simple most modern compilers can heavilly optimize it, but it's made to be plain and straight-forward to read first and foremost.

I'd love your comments on what I've posted so far, also. =^.^= I do need to upload Yet Another Update to the range coder, but that'll wait until I get my laptop back from HP and put my HD back into it, since that's the only Athlon 64 in the building so I can't just boot the drive in another machine. =^.6=