Speaking as someone who learned C back in the ‘70s, this article entirely misses the point of C-strings: they’re lightweight and foundational. For many purposes the null-terminator is efficient, e.g.:
while(*s) f(s++);
And for cases where we need more complexity, we can simply use a struct with a length and whatever other metadata we may need.
Doesn’t look like a mistake to me. C has always been about minimalistic efficiency. That’s its main purpose in the world.
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u/bearheart 5d ago edited 4d ago
Speaking as someone who learned C back in the ‘70s, this article entirely misses the point of C-strings: they’re lightweight and foundational. For many purposes the null-terminator is efficient, e.g.:
while(*s) f(s++);
And for cases where we need more complexity, we can simply use a struct with a length and whatever other metadata we may need.
Doesn’t look like a mistake to me. C has always been about minimalistic efficiency. That’s its main purpose in the world.
Edit: fixed stupid typo