Onward! 2017
Sun 22 - Fri 27 October 2017 Vancouver, Canada
co-located with SPLASH 2017
Wed 25 Oct 2017 15:30 - 16:15 at Regency B - Essays Chair(s): Robert Biddle

The C language leads a double life: as an application programming language of yesteryear, per- petuated by circumstance, and as a systems programming language which remains a weapon of choice decades after its creation. This essay is a C programmer’s reaction to the call to abandon ship. It questions several properties commonly held to de ne the experience of using C; these include unsafety, unde ned behaviour, and the motivation of performance. It argues all these are in fact inessential; rather, it traces C’s ultimate strength to a communicative design which does not t easily within the usual conception of “a programming language”, but can be seen as a counterpoint to so-called “man- aged languages”. This communicativity is what facilitates the essential aspect of system-building: creating parts which interact with other, remote parts—being “alongside” not “within”.

Wed 25 Oct

Displayed time zone: Tijuana, Baja California change

15:30 - 17:00
EssaysOnward! Essays at Regency B
Chair(s): Robert Biddle Carleton University
15:30
45m
Talk
Some Were Meant For C: The endurance of an unmanageable language
Onward! Essays
Stephen Kell University of Cambridge
16:15
45m
Talk
Concept Analysis in Programming Language Research: Done Well It Is All Right
Onward! Essays
A: Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho University of Jyväskylä
DOI Pre-print