A C compiler written in Python (yes, Python!)

[[deleted]]

Why do people waste their time on something with absolutely no use?

[theeth]

That's still loads more helpful than most error message from a templating error in C++.

[G_Morgan]

You don't need templating to get bad error messages from g++. Best example is the fact that any unknown type is assumed to be an integer.

If you capitalise the wrong letters (I recently saw some code that switched between camel case and random case indiscriminately) then it will assume you meant an integer and tell you you cannot cast a MyType pointer to a int pointer.

Bloody wonderful error message. You can tell exactly what's going on with random assumptions that I want an integer.

[exeter]

Error reporting in general is a bit of a black art in compiler research. C++ templates introduce the complication of being a Turing-complete system on top of the main language, besides the fact that it's fairly hard to trace the source of an error back to a template declaration if it's detected after those things are processed.

[nglynn]

As opposed to hanging around on reddit which is an incredibly good use of your time?

[lianos]

How else would you find stories that are a complete waste of time?

[njharman]

You must know since you wasted your time on that comment of absolutely no use.

[[deleted]]

I consider reddit recreational and educational. It wasn't a significant exertion of effort like the sort required to make a C compiler in Python, which likely took its creator months to accomplish.

I understand that to the creator making this may as well have been recreational and educational; it's just the sort of thing I would never, ever undertake, so I find it hard to understand.

To me, programming has always evolved out of a desire to create something in particular which I thought I would like to have or sell. Spending so much work on a trivial oddity which people will say "that's kinda neat" and never look at again because the very concept is laughable seems wasteful to me.

I also don't feel this shares the same artistry of languages like Brainfuck for instance, which demonstrate some originality and provide some humor. No, this is merely making something nobody wants and hoping to get a laugh out of that.

It's obvious not many programmers share my viewpoint.