
Why Aren't There C Conferences? - ingve
https://nullprogram.com/blog/2018/11/21/
======
mikestew
Because though there might be building trades conferences, there are no hammer
conferences. Oh, there will be tool vendors _at_ the building trades
conferences, there might be sessions on "Efficient Hammering Techniques Using
Machine Learning", but there are no conferences about hammers. Don't forget
about the blacksmith conference next week, they'll have hammer vendors, too.

I dunno, a Ruby conference kinda makes sense because one will mostly build web
sites with it, so it's really going to be a "Building $FOO with $TOOL" kind of
thing. But C is so widely used, it's like having that HammerFest 2019 with
everyone from people splitting wood with a sledghammer to jewelers with their
teensy little tapping tools. I just don't see the diamond workers drinking
with the lumberjacks at the hotel bar after hours. :-) I jest, but it's mostly
about networking anyway, otherwise just watch the videos online.

~~~
SiVal
To find the answer, I would ask, Why _are_ there conferences for other
technologies? What are they for?

And I think the answer is probably 1) get useful news about recent and
upcoming changes and 2) to socialize. I'm going to guess--possibly just
projecting--that most C developers are older and not terribly interested in
meeting new "C friends" or jumping into some hot, new "C startup".

That leaves #1. Web/AI-ML/cloud/mobile tech conferences feature speakers from
the big tech companies that might reveal, in a talk or a hallway chat, info
about which of your problems they are about to solve or to cause. Independent
speakers serve a sort of journalist role of gathering intel from the big
companies, organizing it, and revealing their findings. It's all about "tell
me what I need to know so I can decide what to do".

But there isn't much news about C that most C programmers will want to know in
order to make decisions. It's almost like news about algebra or, yes, hammers:
mature, slow-changing technologies whose changes seldom impact more than a
small percentage of users.

So without reasons 1 or 2, the answer to why aren't there C conferences is
basic and boring: what important purpose would they serve?

~~~
Oreb
> It’s almost like news about algebra

There are plenty of algebra conferences, though. I’ve been to several. :-)

I agree with your general point, but algebra isn’t quite as slow-moving as you
seem to believe.

~~~
pure-awesome
Perhaps they were thinking of the ordinary equation solving that most people
know as algebra, rather than the abstract algebra (group theory etc.) covered
in university mathematics courses.

------
plg
I tried going to one once but the address I had for the conference center
pointed past the end of the street ?!?!?

~~~
rickycook
and off a bridge? sounds like a JS conference

~~~
Felz
I can't resist.

C conference: Address is past the end of the street.

C++ conference: Reading the address requires working out an elaborate series
of compile-time templates that finally resolves to the actual address. You go
there to find that it's past the end of the street.

JS conference: The address is "the last place we held it". You attempt to
figure out what that means, but you didn't attend last year. After some
research, you find a copy of last year's invitation. Its address reads "the
place where we always hold the conference". After more research and a bit of
guess work, you finally arrive, but nobody else is there. You have a sinking
feeling the conference wasn't in Uzbekistan after all.

TS conference: As JS, but the invitation includes a helpful explanation of how
to find where "the last place we held the conference" is. Unfortunately, one
of the explanations is wrong, and you arrive in Uzbekistan.

Java conference: To calculate this year's address, you must first go to a
JavaConferenceFactory on the outskirts of town. Talk to the
JavaConferenceFactoryManagerSingleton, and give him your
JavaConferenceConfiguration. He can give you a JavaConference, which you can
cast to a JavaConferenceImpl. The JavaConferenceImpl contains a
JavaConferenceAddressLocator, which when passed a WorldMappingSystem can give
you a JavaConferenceAddress.

Haskell conference: There is no conference. Holding one could cause side
effects.

Go conference: The address is given in a simple, predictable format:
interface{}.

~~~
hoosieree
There was going to be a Rust conference, but the venue was double-booked.

------
ggreer
Apparently there's not enough interest among those who write C. Back in 2012,
Brandon Philips (CoreOS CTO & kernel contributor) tried valiantly to organize
a C conference, but there weren't enough speakers and presentations.[1]

1\.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304013703/http://www.cconf....](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304013703/http://www.cconf.org/)

------
ndesaulniers
Good question, but a majority of this post is links to cppcon videos. (I do
appreciate the shoutout to LLVM).

I think the C community:

* Should have a C conference.

* Actually be more aggressive in adding features to the language. For example, there are some really great GNU C extensions that are long overdue be added to the standard. Compiler vendors should work with the standards bodies more, rather than shipping language extensions, compiler builtins, and various compiler plugins in isolation outside of standards bodies (because then codebases become tightly coupled to the compiler; ie. the Linux kernel).

~~~
oneplane
The main problem with that is there is no single C community.

Imagine trying to get ANSI C, Win32 C, GNU C and every flavor of embedded C
together.

~~~
rickycook
Early 2000s:

The main problem with that is there is no single JavaScript/HTML community.

Imagine trying to get IE, Netscape, Opera and every flavor of embedded HTML
viewer together.

~~~
jcelerier
2018: "This website only works optimally on Google Chrome"

------
haberman
C is effectively frozen in time, thanks largely to Microsoft's decision to
deprioritize C support in favor of C++.

C99 is almost 20 years old and MSVC still doesn't fully support it. Forget
about C11. If you're a C programmer who cares about portability, you stick
with C89.

There's not a lot of point to having a conference about something that is
stuck on a 30 year old standard.

~~~
gnulinux
I think this is a very debatable claim. MSVC is an insignificant compiler in a
lot of industries. In something like scientific computing, everything is
written with gcc, clang and Intel on mind. Sure, you'll find some companies
still using MSVC, but it's not industry standard any more and it's very
unclear how an insignificant, outdated compiler can stop the progress of
world's most fundamental programming language.

~~~
haberman
C's strength is being the lingua franca of the bottom of the stack. I can
believe that there are some applications that know a priori that they will
never need to be portable to MSVC. But for any foundational open-source
library, closing the door to MSVC is a high price to pay. Someone, sooner or
later, will want to use the code on Windows. If you are zlib, ffmpeg,
freetype, Lua, LuaJIT, sqlite, libpng, c-ares, OpenSSL, PostgreSQL, glib, gtk,
or anything that aspires to be as widely used as these, you stay
C89-compatible to support MSVC.

~~~
syrrim
"Use the code on windows" and "support msvc" are orthogonal properties. Gcc
and clang both compile windows binaries.

------
mrpippy
Related tweet from last week:
[https://twitter.com/krzyzanowskim/status/1062740353533513728](https://twitter.com/krzyzanowskim/status/1062740353533513728)

Observation: Before 2014, iOS conferences were iOS conferences and was mostly
about how to use the frameworks. After 2014, iOS conferences renamed to Swift
conferences and everyone tries to figure out how to use Swift - like this is
the main pain point or what?

~~~
deminature
In my experience, they're still about frameworks mostly, they just brand
themselves as Swift conferences to indicate there isn't going to be any
Objective-C oriented content presented, so people don't attend with the wrong
expectation.

Swift-oriented content at a conference is also going to be popular, as unlike
frameworks, it affects every developer, as compared to frameworks where only a
percentage may use each one.

~~~
Apocryphon
I wonder if there might still be new Objective-C content that could be
presented for iOS development, or if everything is just Swift now.

~~~
deminature
A lot of major apps are still Objective-C codebases (Facebook, Spotify),
though I would imagine everyone will migrate eventually, considering the
momentum of open source libraries seems to be heading that way. As someone who
works fulltime in Swift and previously in Objective-C, I'm slightly nostalgic
for the days of long, descriptive method names, and faster compile times, but
overall glad to have migrated.

------
svat
It's interesting that many of the comments here (7 of 9 top-level comments
currently) answer the question in the title, rather than respond to the blog
post (which has some interesting points and a great list of relevant talks
from conferences... starting to watch some of them right away).

------
brynet
I believe it's mentioned, but BSD conferences are often a great place to find
presentations that typically gravitate towards low level systems C
programming.

OpenBSD has an events page with a list of past talks given by developers,
along with slides, and if it exists, any video.

[https://www.openbsd.org/events.html](https://www.openbsd.org/events.html)

------
userbinator
I agree with his reasons for the lack of C conferences, and present one more:
what I've noticed from the C developers and "community" (if there is even
something to be called that) is a relative lack of dogmatic cargo-cult
thinking and otherwise trend-chasing compared to other language communities,
which I hypothesise is partly responsible for the "we must have a conference"
attitude. To repurpose a phrase, "the choir doesn't need to be preached to."

Also, I allude to above, there's not much of a "C community" either. It's all
just a bunch of people using the language for very different purposes and with
very different styles, and IMHO this diversity is a good thing; it just
doesn't make for a population who would like conferences.

~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
All reasons why C has been around for a very long time and will be around for
a very long time to come.

------
Alex3917
Why isn’t there a bash conference? Someone is missing a golden opportunity to
organize Bash Bash.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
Nobody's willing to shell out for it.

~~~
DonHopkins
I always wanted to attend a "yes" conference.

    
    
        y
        y
        y
        y
        y
        ....
    

I heard they were a lot of arguments at the Gnu "cat" conference.

~~~
marcosdumay
My computer has "true" version 8.26, and I miss some place I can go to
discover what's new from version 8.25.

~~~
qznc
The history of GNU true:
[http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=coreutils.git;a=histor...](http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=coreutils.git;a=history;f=src/true.c;h=8f53b4b537b94b387e0f211502ec04f3ad113aaf;hb=HEAD)

For clarification, you are using coreutils 8.26 which includes true among
other things.

~~~
marcosdumay
Yes, it was in jest. The result of "true --version" is actually quite extent,
bringing licensing and authorship information and a short explanation of the
GPL.

------
visualstudio
I could see it happening in the future.

There's has been a mini resurgence in C from (normally high level language)
programmers who are getting sick of web development and are interested in data
oriented design.

Conference benefits could be:

Pushing the C standard. C11 is barely supported.

Discussing new standards in a forum other than mailing lists. Did you guys
know there is already a C17 standard?

Letting old C devs pass on their wisdom to new C devs. C has a lot of pitfalls
but also has a lot of neat tricks.

Show off new and existing tools.

etc.

~~~
baby
The problem is that nobody new to the scene wants to write C anymore. It's not
a secure language, it has no convention and is full of hacks. On top of that
it has undefined behaviors and is supported differently by different systems.

Nowadays people want to write in Go, Rust, Swift, etc.

~~~
varjag
Which scene? You still learn C to get work done with hardware, like it on not.

~~~
pjmlp
For strange that it may seem to youngsters, that capability is not unique to
C.

[https://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal-pic](https://www.mikroe.com/mikropascal-
pic)

[https://www.mikroe.com/mikrobasic-pic](https://www.mikroe.com/mikrobasic-pic)

[http://www.astrobe.com/default.htm](http://www.astrobe.com/default.htm)

[https://www.ptc.com/en/products/developer-
tools/apexada](https://www.ptc.com/en/products/developer-tools/apexada)

[https://www.ghs.com/products/ada_optimizing_compilers.html](https://www.ghs.com/products/ada_optimizing_compilers.html)

Some examples of non-C languages used in production code for doing stuff with
hardware.

~~~
kahlonel
Not going to spend $250 on an ugly looking IDE that forces me to work on a
Windows PC.

~~~
pjmlp
Then better not work on tne embedded industry, as that is the OS of choice for
like 99% of the SDKs, even C based ones targeted at Eclipse CDT.

Which I guess is also beautiful then.

------
frou_dh
Read 'em and weep:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20120622204303/http://www.cconf....](https://web.archive.org/web/20120622204303/http://www.cconf.org:80/)

On second thoughts...

[https://web.archive.org/web/20120728130108/http://www.cconf....](https://web.archive.org/web/20120728130108/http://www.cconf.org/)

------
carlesfe
I'd say if you want to attend a C conference, check one of the BSD gatherings.
Lots of good C code, everything open source, and a great community

------
kazinator
There absolutely are C conferences. They just aren't conferences of this type:

 _" We have speakers who made some cool stuff in a hyped up new language
called C and are exited about it, and sharing the techniques!"_

They are of this type:

 _" We have speakers who will share some approaches for preventing and
discovering stability and security flaws in widely deployed low-level,
middleware and embedded components and stacks."_

You have to read between the lines that a lot of this is actually about C.

C doesn't need to be mentioned in the title because it's the 900 pound, white
elephant in the room.

C conferences are also of this type:

 _" We have a gathering of experts in the domain area surrounding a very
specialized software stack (that happens to be written in C, and carries a C
API)._

~~~
svat
> the 900 pound, white elephant in the room

Interesting phrase, a mixture of at least three phrases:

\- "800-pound gorilla"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/800-pound_gorilla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/800-pound_gorilla))
-- something big that can do whatever it wants

\- "white elephant"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant))
-- an expensive but useless gift or thing

\- "elephant in the room"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room))
-- something obvious that no one wants to discuss.

It's not clear which meaning you're trying to convey. C is definitely not
useless, so I imagine that the "white elephant" part at least is not intended.
Note that an adult elephant weighs several thousand pounds, so a 900-pound
elephant is probably a baby elephant.

------
alaxsxaq
It is an interesting thought. I went to one of the early OSCON conferences in
Portland and it was pretty cool to have the Ruby (Matts), Python (Guido), and
Perl (Larry Wall) people all at the same conference. I was a budding Python
programmer, but sat through sessions on the other languages to get a feel for
what they offered.

That was a great conference - amazing attendees spending the evening hanging
out around the conference center hacking code and an amazing diversity of
presenters.

I go to OSCON often and that atmosphere has never been repeated as things have
splintered off into language/application area specific conferences.
Something's been lost - at least for the casual or beginner programmer.

------
antirez
Not sure about conferences, but what bothers me is that there is no single
acknowledged discussion group about C, after Google destroyed newsgroups and
comp.lang.c with it. There should be a very popular Reddit sub about it, but
yet Reddit is not enough standard among developers, unfortunately.

Right now there is:

* [https://www.reddit.com/r/C_Programming/](https://www.reddit.com/r/C_Programming/)

* [https://www.reddit.com/r/c_language/](https://www.reddit.com/r/c_language/)

~~~
klodolph
I'm unsure what you mean by Google "destroying" newsgroups. Newsgroups were
decentralized to begin with, the fact that Google purchased Deja News and then
didn't... I don't know, turn it into a Reddit-equivalent or something doesn't
surprise me. You can still use Google Groups as a Usenet gateway and there are
still other Usenet gateways around, although the offerings are getting a bit
more scarce and it's no longer a standard part of your ISP's package.

Whenever I look at places like comp.lang.c (which still exists) I remember the
bad Usenet experiences I had in the 1990s. It's certainly not worse than it
_was,_ in my mind. If anything killed newsgroups, it was Slashdot / Reddit /
Stack Overflow and the like.

~~~
antirez
Maybe "killed" is a strong word. My feeling is that when Google exposed that
part of the internet to the web, it became interesting for spammers to target
USENET much more than in the past, which was a very strong contributing factor
for USENET to die. Moreover once no longer an "hidden gem" many felt exposed
posting to USENET, now that it was trivially web accessible.

~~~
klodolph
My feeling is that the web was becoming larger and more accessible every year,
and that while Google probably did that more than anyone else, you could
equally blame AOL for providing NNTP access to the general public in 1993, or
Deja News for starting their archive work in 1995, or Google for their
indexing work starting in 2001.

That's just assigning a name and face to economic forces, though. It's the
underlying economics that killed Usenet—experts hang out there, so it’s
valuable, so non-experts start hanging out there, until the experts leave
because there are too many non-experts. This happens to every internet forum;
Usenet was just older. Travel back in time and any randomly selected person on
the internet was likely to be some kind of expert.

~~~
antirez
Yes, what you say surely makes a lot of sense. Maybe there is to start some
form of forum that is very unpleasant to use, like, just having a command line
interface to access it... and vim as editor :-D

------
beat
All programming conferences are C conferences, if you think about it.

~~~
TheDong
I don't see how that follows at all.

If you're implying all program languages are derived from C, that's simply
false. Lisp is based on the lambda calculus and predates C, as one easy
counter-example.

If you're implying that all languages run on top of C, that's also false.
Theoretical Lisp Machines [0] have been envisioned which do not run C
anywhere, and many languages (rust, go, etc) can be built into unikernals that
run on real hardware with no C anywhere in the mix.

As far as I can tell, your statement is both pointless and wrong in even a
generous interpretation of it.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_machine)

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
Show me a lisp which is used by enough people to fill a conference in 2018
that isn't implemented in C. Show me a lisp machine which was manufactured any
time in the past 10 years.

~~~
aidenn0
SBCL (a fork of cmucl) is implemented in common lisp and is the most popular
common lisp implementation.

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
[https://github.com/sbcl/sbcl/tree/master/src/runtime](https://github.com/sbcl/sbcl/tree/master/src/runtime)

~~~
phoe-krk
CLOC tells me there's 28391 lines of C and 426525 lines of Lisp in there. Also
remember that Lisp has, on average, higher code density than C thanks to
advanced macro usage.

Pointing to C code in that repository and saying SBCL is implemented in C is
like pointing to [https://github.com/sbcl/sbcl/blob/master/binary-
distribution...](https://github.com/sbcl/sbcl/blob/master/binary-
distribution.sh) and saying that SBCL is implemented in Bash.

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
The runtime is written in C. That's the important bit. Just because the
compiler, standard library, etc, isn't - doesn't mean it's not based on C. You
cannot use SBCL without a C compiler.

~~~
phoe-krk
The installation scripts are written in bash. That's the important bit. Just
because the compiler, standard library, etc, isn't - doesn't mean it's not
based on bash. You cannot use SBCL without a bash shell. /s

Of course you can use SBCL without a C compiler - you simply use a precompiled
version. You can't _build_ SBCL without a C compiler.

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
Shell scripts just slap commands together. You could just be a human
interpreter reading the source and get the job done. C is a much more
fundamental requirement of SBCL. Much more so than in the way SCBL depends on
Python, for example (e.g. it doesn't).

Listen, I get that in the ivory tower of lisp you don't like looking at the
little C bricks at the bottom, but the fact is that they exist and C is a
hugely important language upon which the entire modern world of computing is
built.

~~~
phoe-krk
Sure, all of us execute stuff on kernels that are written in either C or C++
or C# or Objective-C, utilizing runtimes that are written in the same
languages and calling APIs that are defined by the C application binary
interface. That family of languages isn't going anywhere and choosing C
instead of raw assembly is often chosen out of practical reasons, such as code
maintainability.

Still, I find it hard to put an equality sign between "X has a runtime written
in C" and "X is written in C".

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
I said "implemented" in C. I'd argue that the runtime == the implementation.

~~~
aidenn0
The runtime for sbcl is just the garbage collector and parts of the OS
interface. It's not like the JVM (or e.g. GNU clisp) where the runtime is
interpreting code.

The OS interface for any program that is targeted at *nix is likely to be
written at least partly in C, because POSIX is very hostile to non-C
languages, which leaves us with the garbage collector.

If the GC's implementation language is the most important thing for an
implementation then every language implemented mostly in C++, but using bdwgc
for garbage collection is actually implemented in C and assembly.

------
lucisferre
I think a better question is why are there so many {language/framework}
conferences?

Why should a conference be so narrowly focused when the problems faced by
software developers largely don't change based on the choice of tooling, and
in fact learning about how different tooling choices provide different costs
and benefits when solving these problems is particularly interesting and
useful knowledge.

------
bitwize
C has seeped so deep into the collective unconscious of all programmers that
the thought of setting up a conference for it is a bit risible. Branding a
conference with your programming language is for languages that need to be
promoted -- and C is perhaps the most accepted, most ubiquitous, and most
cursed programming language ever, so promotion is the last thing it needs.

------
abitoffthetop
I think the conferences that exist are there to make money, and for vendors to
pay to promote their wares. As the platforms such as Java, Python, Javascript,
.Net have a focus on tooling the conferences are paid for by the tooling
companies and the employers wishing to have their staff associated with the
burgeoning tech, ironically with speakers often paid badly just for the
exposure, reinforcing the for-profit nature of the conferences.

C/C++ on the other hand would be represented only as an adjunct of a larger
industry conference, such as automation , Industry 4.0 or Aerospace and often
run by bodies like the IEEEE. There are no large tooling companies for C++,
and no-one is making money by creating development tools for a relatively
static and stable language, so there's no need to promote it exclusively.

So, the conferences are there, but C++/C exposure is specialised and not
profitable to promote.

------
tom_mellior
Besides CppCon there is also the yearly ACCU conference:
[https://conference.accu.org/](https://conference.accu.org/)

Yes, that too is C _and_ C++, but combining them into one conference just
makes sense. It's good if each community knows what's new in the other one.

------
samat
This is great:

> I’m sharing them here so you can bookmark this page and never return again.

~~~
mehdix
It made me laugh out loud in the office!

------
FartyMcFarter
Great list of Cppcon videos! Though it's missing one great talk from 2017:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9nH2vZ2mNo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9nH2vZ2mNo)

CppCon 2017: Teresa Johnson “ThinLTO: Scalable and Incremental Link-Time
Optimization”

------
sytse
While you're at it maybe also consider a packaging system like
npm/rubygems/etc.

------
MrXOR
Yes, We need C conferences to make C great again!

>>> Why Aren't There C Conferences? Because K&R book is all we need?

"No, don't think I'll need anything at all. All in all they (Go, Zig, Rust,
...) are all just bricks in the wall" \--- Pink Floyd

------
stcredzero
Because ioccc is either too cheap to rent a ballroom, or they're not too cheap
but in following their theme and long practice, they aren't telling you when
and where they rented one.

EDIT: It's true. HN has no sense of humor.

~~~
gnulinux
HN is not a place to make cheap jokes.

~~~
stcredzero
It's not a cheap dis. It's a joke along the lines of the ioccc's usual shtick.
Downvoting that joke possibly shows one hasn't read the ioccc website.

------
tanilama
C doesn't evolve that much nowadays, what would a C conference be about then?

------
johan_larson
Are there many new projects being started these days in C, or even C++? I
would expect most of that to have moved over to Java or Golang, with most
C-family coding being on extensions of older projects.

~~~
dman
There are entire product categories (Games / Databases / Operating Systems /
Video editors / Animation / Data analysis tools / robotics) where C/C++
continue to be the dominant languages.

~~~
johan_larson
Thanks for the info, but I'm not sure databases belongs in that list. I work
on a database system (Couchbase), and our codebase is pretty mixed. The oldest
part of the system, the Key-Value storage engine, is C++, but the newer parts
are a mix of Erlang, Golang, and Java.

Anyone know what some of the newer systems, like Spark and Snowflake are
written in?

~~~
_bohm
Spark is mostly written in Scala.

------
Svoka
Lets be honest: conferences exist to waste time. Nothing productive gets done
on conferences and best thing you can take our from them is to socialize with
like-minded people.

~~~
ngngngng
Lets be honest: lunch exists to waste time. Nothing productive gets done at
lunch and best thing you can take out from them is to socialize with like-
minded people.

~~~
mattkevan
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

------
jordache
maybe the vast majority of use cases for applications do not require the lower
levels of abstractions provided by C. Meaning, whatever overhead associated
with higher level languages, they are entirely within the realm of
acceptability, for the vast majority of use cases.

I also think, as you go lower in the levels of abstraction, each
implementation of a solution with that language becomes less applicable to
other use cases, so there is a more robust barrier between each instance in
the community.

------
ricardoreis
Because it's a perfect language. And hence there's no need to improve (or
whine and moan) about it. Which is what language conferences are normally for.

------
eduardsi
You can find a lot of C++ videos here:
[https://dev.tube/?q=C%2B%2B](https://dev.tube/?q=C%2B%2B)

------
cubano
Whenever they try to have one, everyone shows up at the wrong room.

They show up at the one they told to go to, not the one that actually contains
the speakers.

------
peter303
They are called UNIX conferences. C and UNIX (now mainly Linux, MacOs and
Android) grew together dependent on each other.

------
StreamBright
Why arent there hammer conferences?

IT is the only industry that is super obsessed with tools.

~~~
noselasd
Not really. There's tons of conferences/trading shows and obsession for
machining tools, woodworking tools, HVAC systems, welders, plumbers, cleaning
tools, construction tools, tattooing tools, sewing, etc.

~~~
StreamBright
"CONFERENCES

Plastics Conference

Apr 30, 2019

AWS developed this conference featuring the latest advances in manufacturing,
fabrication, installation and examination related to thermoplastics welding
and joining.

Shipbuilding / Aluminum Conference

Sep 17, 2019 - Sep 19, 2019

Industry experts will deliver the latest research and innovations in both the
Shipbuilding and Aluminum industries. Aluminum is one of the most versatile
and widely used metals in manufacturing, but its unique chemical and physical
properties can also make it one of the most challenging to weld. The critical
importance of welding in the shipbuilding industry will also be addressed by
providing current information on emerging technologies being developed for
shipbuilding applications.

2019 Aerospace Joining Conference

Sep 23, 2019 - Sep 26, 2019

To bring together experts from Research & Development, Manufacturing and
Applications in the areas of advanced welding and brazing, adaptive
manufacturing, single crystal repair and advanced repair technologies for the
aerospace and IGT engine industries.

2019 Welding Industry Summit

Oct 15, 2019

SAVE THE DATE

This year's Summit will be a combination of interactive presentations, panels,
and round table discussions intended to give each attendee current information
on how more value can be brought to their welding operations, plans, and
projects."

Does any of these look like to you as a single tool conference?

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oneplane
Because it is too broad for a targeted conference.

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andy_ppp
Because C is simple and not very interesting without an associated topic?

I’m also not sure what you’d sell to C programmers.

But maybe there should be one - with some good marketing it could do quite
well I suspect.

~~~
pjmlp
C seems simple.

[http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-
should-...](http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-should-
know.html)

[http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-
should-...](http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-should-
know_14.html)

[http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-
should-...](http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-should-
know_21.html)

What about advocating best practices to write proper code to those still using
C89 + compiler extensions without any kind of analyzers?

------
kartikgupta7
there are. they are called optometry conventions

------
DonHopkins
How about Usenix?

------
zacharytelschow
Same reason there aren't B Batteries - because you could never be sure if
someone had a stutter.

~~~
perl4ever
I think there are B batteries, they are just obscure compared to C and A.

According to a cursory check of Wikipedia, a lantern battery such as
"Energizer 3LR12 4.5 V Max Battery" sold in the UK contains three of what may
be known as B cells.

Incidentally, someone once told me he had experience in "C+" programming and
I've never been sure if he was joking.

~~~
lostgame
I often incorrectly refer to C++ or worse, even C, as C+.

I hear others make this mistake, too. I think it's just a colloquialism?

------
moocowtruck
wow when he enumerates all the video's from the last two cppcon's it paints a
dismal picture when you look at all the titles lol

------
amckinlay
Why doesn't C have an actual, formal semantic model?

"Furthermore, we argue that the C standard does not allow Turing complete
implementations, and that its evaluation semantics does not preserve typing.
Finally, we claim that no strictly conforming programs exist. That is, there
is no C program for which the standard can guarantee that it will not crash."
[1]

Maybe someone should file a defect report.

[1]
[https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6237/6bcf5e1b55abcaa301b9c8...](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6237/6bcf5e1b55abcaa301b9c8d0f0062b2cba27.pdf)

