Hacker News Reader

Any time I've tried to tinker with a program written in C, I get mired in variables and functions with nondescript names referencing other variables and functions with nondescript names.

I don't know if it's a difference in conventions or language design, but I've found C# code to be even easier on my head than Java, which it borrows heavily from.

View on HN

> variables and functions with nondescript names referencing other variables and functions with nondescript names

That's pretty much language independent. You can do that in any language, but should never try to. You can write clear and simple code in C, but that requires some attention and knowing how to encapsulate functionality in a pretty way using language which doesn't always help you.

And there's no shame in that, and there's no reason why you should be instantly able to hack around with C code. It can be very low-level and very tricky to follow - that's the consequence of its power. The right tools for the right jobs.

As an aside, it's quite possible, of course, to write ridiculously tricky code in any language.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com