Uploads from Xah Lee

Currently Playing: Xah Ep702 the C Printf Crime and New Syntax for String, Rock-String

Video Summary (Generated by AI) This video argues that C's printf function is a "hack" that has caused pervasive harm in programming language design (1:57). The speaker explains that printf combines multiple distinct operations—string templating, number-to-string conversion, number formatting (e.g., decimal places, padding), and base conversion (e.g., decimal to hexadecimal)—into one cryptic mini-language (2:50, 26:56, 29:21). Because C was popular, many languages like Python, Perl, PowerShell, Go, and Emacs Lisp borrowed this design (2:57, 23:14). However, these languages later found printf's design problematic and introduced their own, often incompatible, string formatting methods (8:17, 28:07). The speaker then introduces their proposed "rock string" syntax (50:56), which aims to solve these problems by: Eliminating escape sequences (51:19), which lead to the "backslash toothpick syndrome" (51:37). Allowing embedding of non-printable characters and expressions directly. Using a single, simple syntax with customizable delimiters for literal string representation (57:28).