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== C programming language representation belongs in article ==
The Java Virtual Machine Specification introduces the class file format with a C-like representation rather than a binary table format for a reason. Some find this more readable and easier to comprehend. That is why both are present in this article.
[[User:@modi|@modi]] 05:06, 8 November 2007 (UTC)▼
: I appreciate trying to make this article more readable, but with this case I disagree. The ''reason'' is apparently because the JVM spec authors don't know C, or didn't care, or because they follow the code with dozens of pages of clarifying text which then go on to explain why the format is actually not like the pseudo-C code they just presented. This example code is not even remotely close to being correct C code (or even Java code), and trying to present it as such is quite misleading. Most of the "types" are of undefined variable length (C types are always fixed length). No padding bytes are ever introduced (as C frequently does). A definite byte-order is mandated, which C can never indicate. The things which look like C arrays are stored absolutely nothing like real C arrays. Even the indicated "length" of the arrays is completely wrong in the constant_pool case due to the double-slot flaw. In fact, just about everything in the file format is so completely not like C that I wonder what in the world the writers of the specification were thinking. If a reader can't understand a table of simple file offsets and wants to pretend like they can use a C structure then they can read the spec; that's why it's listed in the references. This article is not trying to replace the entire quite-lengthy specification, it is only showing a ''flavor'' of the format. Copying large blocks of poorly-authored text verbatim from the referenced document (which shouldn't be done regardless of quality) and taken out of context (from all the clarifying text that follows) provides no extra value here, and only clutters the article and adds about a dozen ways the reader can be easily misled. - [[User:Dmeranda|Dmeranda]] 14:08, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
▲[[User:@modi|@modi]] 05:06, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
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