Worst ideas/features in programming languages?

[drug]

On 11.10.2021 22:15, bachmeier wrote:
> On Monday, 11 October 2021 at 15:59:10 UTC, Atila Neves wrote:
>> I'm brainstorming about what I'll talk about at DConf, and during a 
>> conversation with Walter I thought it might be cool to talk about:
>>
>> * Worst features implemented in a non-toy language
> 
> C's pointer notation is too stupid for words. (I understand how it 
> works. I've been using it for decades. Please no explanations.)
> 
> Writing functions like this is horrible:
> 
> ```
> int timesTwo(int *x) {
>      return 2 * *x;
> }
> ```
> 
> When you learn C, you ask what the `*x` is. It's an int. That makes 
> sense. That's why it's `int *x`. Okay, let's call that function:
> 
> ```
> int main() {
>      printf("%d\n", timesTwo(4));
>      return 0;
> }
> ```
> 
> `expected ‘int *’ but argument is of type ‘int’`
> 
> Okay, let's try this:
> 
> ```
> int main() {
>      int z = 4;
>      printf("%d\n", timesTwo(&z));
>      return 0;
> }
> ```
> 
> `8`
> 
> So `*x` is an int, but you have to pass `&z`, which is not an int, as 
> the argument. The only way this can't be confusing to someone learning 
> it for the first time is if they're memorizing syntax.

I would say that `x` is a pointer to int and `*x` is a dereferenced 
pointer to int. 4 is an int value and it can not be treated as a 
dereferenced pointer to int. So you need to create an int value, take 
the pointer to it and then pass it to the function.