this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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I really like C because I can just get to the heart of an action and make it happen without much surrounding code.
I could make classes and blah blah blah if I want to make a large, complex program but I'd rather write several small, simple to grok programs which pass information around so each program can do its one simple thing, quickly and easily. Chain the small programs together with bash or something, and bingo, you've got a modular high speed system.
I'm not a programmer, actually a mechanical engineer. But the Unix philosophy of simple, modular tools is great, provided one properly checks and sanitizes inputs.
What you're describing sounds like Python. Not really C's strong suit.
If you haven't checked it out yet, you certainly should!
I agree with your main point. Python does a great job of replacing lots of tiny, chained scripts. Simple API calls with wget or curl have a place, but can spiral out of control quickly if you need to introduce any grain of control like with pagination, as an example.
Maintaining one Python app (or "script") can still adhere to the unix philosophy of simplicity but can bend some rules as far as monolithic design is concerned if you aren't careful.
It all boils down to whether you are introducing complexity or reducing it, IMHO.