Ode to C

May your signals all trap     may your references be bounded All memory aligned     floats to ints rounded

Remember ...

Non-zero is true     ++ adds one Arrays start with zero     and, NULL is for none

For octal, use zero     0x means hex = will set     == means test

Use -> for a pointer     a dot if its not ? : is confusing     use them a lot

a.out is your program     there's no U in foobar and, char (*(*x())[])() is     a function returning a pointer     to an array of pointers to     functions returning char

Posted by Jon S. Stumpf to the rec.humor.funny newsgroup in 1990, but whether they're the original author is unknown.

I remember running into this on Usenet in the beginning of the 90's, and honestly it feels absolutely wacky that I've been on the Internet since 1990 – that's 35 years, that's way too much‽