In comp.lang.c++ Mr. Man-wai Chang <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

What is a genius programmer?

That is an interesting question and I guess the
answers will always be a bit subjective. But
here is my take.

One example is *Sage Weil* who was the main driving
force behind Ceph before stepping out of the
development in 2021. I am embarrassed to admit that I did
not know about Ceph until a short time ago, but it
is an incredible, almost miraculous C++ project that
is genuinely both large in terms of size and extremely
demanding in terms of its complexity.

Sage Weil not only wrote C++ code, he contributed to
the theoretical background concerning this distributed
storage system. There are so many ways Ceph could fail
while running so solving those distributed computing
problems to create a stable product is nothing short
of amazing. I suppose all the Ceph developers are
elite level programmers and thinkers in general.

Familiarizing myself with the basic concepts Ceph has
increased my appreciation of C++, too. I guess
modern C++ has many improvements, and as far as I know,
Ceph is now based on the C++20 standard.

br,
KK

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 9/6/2026 9:53 PM, Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

One example is *Sage Weil* who was the main driving
force behind Ceph before stepping out of the
......
Familiarizing myself with the basic concepts Ceph has
increased my appreciation of C++, too. I guess
modern C++ has many improvements, and as far as I know,
Ceph is now based on the C++20 standard.

Then you are more interested in Ceph
than C++, which is possibly an
additional if not extra layer of
translation!! The bottom layer is
still C! :)

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
The game is afoot... Meow...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In comp.lang.c++ Mr. Chang Man-wai <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

On 9/6/2026 9:53 PM, Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

One example is *Sage Weil* who was the main driving
force behind Ceph before stepping out of the
......
Familiarizing myself with the basic concepts Ceph has
increased my appreciation of C++, too. I guess
modern C++ has many improvements, and as far as I know,
Ceph is now based on the C++20 standard.

Then you are more interested in Ceph
than C++,

Yes, I am more interested in the general structure
of Ceph rather than in the implementation details
of it. However, it is a testimony to the usefulness
of C++ that bulk of Ceph is C++20 code.

which is possibly an
additional if not extra layer of
translation!! The bottom layer is
still C! :)

Well, I did not read the Ceph code because I know
it is too complicated for me. But yes, according
to chatGPT, some low-level code of Ceph is written
in plain C.

However, the majority is C++, with some Python
thrown in, too.

br,
KK

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 9/6/2026 10:39 PM, Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

Well, I did not read the Ceph code because I know
it is too complicated for me. But yes, according
to chatGPT, some low-level code of Ceph is written
in plain C.

However, the majority is C++, with some Python
thrown in, too.

If you don't need GUI or anything graphical
and audible, that is plain text, maybe you
do not need C++ at all. C is just enough.

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
The game is afoot... Meow...

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In comp.lang.c++ Mr. Chang Man-wai <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:

If you don't need GUI or anything graphical
and audible, that is plain text, maybe you
do not need C++ at all. C is just enough.

I do not agree with that assessment. C++ does
offer better abstractions than C and for all
practical purposes, it is almost always as fast
as C.

Huge and complicated projects like Firefox,
Chrome and Ceph chose C++ over C and they did
it for good reasons. I know many people hate
C++ and yes, I guess it is too complicated, but
the C++ folks are apparently constantly trying to
improve their language.

After all, Sage Weil chose C++ over C and I
am sure his choice was right. Maybe if Rust
had been available in 2004 he would have chosen
it instead, but this is pure speculation.

br,
KK

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 9/6/2026 8:13 AM, Mr. Chang Man-wai wrote:

On 9/6/2026 10:39 PM, Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

Well, I did not read the Ceph code because I know
it is too complicated for me. But yes, according
to chatGPT, some low-level code of Ceph is written
in plain C.

However, the majority is C++, with some Python
thrown in, too.

If you don't need GUI or anything graphical
and audible, that is plain text, maybe you
do not need C++ at all. C is just enough.

Huh? Sorry, but that makes no sense.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 6 Sep 2026 17:08:22 -0000 (UTC), Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

Huge and complicated projects like Firefox, Chrome and Ceph chose
C++ over C and they did it for good reasons.

Fun fact: even the GNU C compiler itself is largely written in C++
these days.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 06/09/2026 11:13 PM, Mr. Chang Man-wai wrote:

On 9/6/2026 10:39 PM, Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

Well, I did not read the Ceph code because I know
it is too complicated for me. But yes, according
to chatGPT, some low-level code of Ceph is written
in plain C.

However, the majority is C++, with some Python
thrown in, too.

If you don't need GUI or anything graphical
and audible, that is plain text, maybe you
do not need C++ at all. C is just enough.

At the end, it's all executed by binary code in the machine.

So why not just code everything in assembly?
--
Johann | email: invalid -> com | http://www.myrkraverk.com/blog/
I'm not from the Internet, I just work there. | via Easynews.com https://bsky.app/profile/myrkraverk.bsky.social | for ( ;; ) _:;

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Lawrence D?Oliveiro pisze:

On Sun, 6 Sep 2026 17:08:22 -0000 (UTC), Kalevi Kolttonen wrote:

Huge and complicated projects like Firefox, Chrome and Ceph chose
C++ over C and they did it for good reasons.

Fun fact: even the GNU C compiler itself is largely written in C++
these days.

the reason is: most people are medicores - so when 'populism matters'
you got c++

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 08:18:56 +0200, fir wrote:

the reason is: most people are medicores ...

Are they like manticores, but more ... medical?

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 2026-09-08 05:34, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 08:18:56 +0200, fir wrote:

the reason is: most people are medicores ...

Are they like manticores, but more ... medical?

Or medi-cores as an abbreviated form of "medical cores"?

"Medical cores (or core facilities) are centralized
shared research units that provide academic and
clinical investigators access to advanced technologies,
specialized equipment, and expert data analysis."

(Whether inferior, mediocre, or excellent; at least yet
another possible interpretation.)

Janis


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Janis Papanagnou pisze:

On 2026-09-08 05:34, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 08:18:56 +0200, fir wrote:

the reason is: most people are medicores ...

Are they like manticores, but more ... medical?

Or medi-cores as an abbreviated form of "medical cores"?

"Medical cores (or core facilities) are centralized
ÿshared research units that provide academic and
ÿclinical investigators access to advanced technologies,
ÿspecialized equipment, and expert data analysis."

(Whether inferior, mediocre, or excellent; at least yet
another possible interpretation.)

Janis

medicores = medicore c understanders

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 8 Sep 2026 15:58:12 +0200, fir wrote:

medicores = medicore c understanders

Are they like manticores, but more ... medical?

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

fir <profesor.fir@gmail.com> wrote in news:117p49p$7smh$1@dont-email.me:

Janis Papanagnou pisze:

On 2026-09-08 05:34, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 08:18:56 +0200, fir wrote:

the reason is: most people are medicores ...

Are they like manticores, but more ... medical?

Or medi-cores as an abbreviated form of "medical cores"?

"Medical cores (or core facilities) are centralized
ÿshared research units that provide academic and
ÿclinical investigators access to advanced technologies,
ÿspecialized equipment, and expert data analysis."

(Whether inferior, mediocre, or excellent; at least yet
another possible interpretation.)

Janis

medicores = medicore c understanders

FWIW Fir, no one expects you to know everything about every language. The trick is to know enough to understand what you have been given and use
similar constructs to use the existing source to complete the desired
tasks. Using so called extended features of a language might be helpful to you, but if the next person can't understand what you've accomplished how
are they going to extend your code if they are not given the documentation, skills, or know how to safely improve all of the code that has been given
to them?

Ask when you do not know what or why it does something...

Document well what you are doing, preferably in the code, when you need to
use concepts that might not be easily understood by the next programer.

Correct mistakes when allowed. My rule was to also find the offender who
may have moved on to another project and created the same mistakes again.
You may prevent further issues or at least learn why they did what they
did. Sometimes we have to revisit our old code when we discover better
ways to do things.

Help everyone make the next release better.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 8 Sep 2026 15:58:12 +0200, fir wrote:

medicores = medicore c understanders

By any chance did you mean "Mediocre C understanders"? If you called
them "mediocres" rather than "medicores", it would still not be proper
English, but more people would have some idea what you were talking about.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

James Kuyper pisze:

On Tue, 8 Sep 2026 15:58:12 +0200, fir wrote:

medicores = medicore c understanders

By any chance did you mean "Mediocre C understanders"? If you called
them "mediocres" rather than "medicores", it would still not be proper English, but more people would have some idea what you were talking about.

for sure not

i dont know both words mediocre and manticore (probably dont want to
go in offtopic on english though)


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)