The semicolon and not the EOL as the statement terminator is one of the unfortunate things about C. It allows certain so called programmers to create statements a mile long that nobody can understand.

OK, before I get burnt too badly, some C statements can be more than 80 characters and still understandable, my beef is not with K&R but with the so called programmers that misuse the abilty the semicolon gives them. I know guns don't kill, people do - but those aimed at still die.

So much has been done re C that allow lousy code "C is self documenting" which is pure baloney and the most often heard excuse. How much code have I seen that was made on the premise "let me show the world how smart I am" with an entire for loop packed into one statement.

I use C on a daily basis and have no (OK only a little) beef with the language except the ease with which it can be abused.

I have heard several variations of the following "I will move from assembler to C so I do not have the drudgery of comments any more". Again the fault is not the C language but the abuse thereof.

I have, of course, seen assembler code that was totally non-maintainable but never heard "it is very maintainable it is self documenting", the usual excuse has been "I never thought it was to be changed. With C, however, when you approach the so called programmer that did a piece of non-maintainable code all you hear is "Oh, but C is self documenting, what is your beef?" and actully the so called programmer will with great pride show you how convoluted (s)he managed to code the problem.
Again no fault of K&R except making a language so easy to abuse.

Erik