Author: Peter Todd 2013-10-23 19:29:40
Published on: 2013-10-23T19:29:40+00:00
The Bitcoin codebase is simple and readable, but the implications of the codebase are anything but simple. The fear that C++ is brittle and one change could bring the whole house of cards down has hindered documentation and globally searched replacements for obscure names of important items. Reviewing changes for maliciously or accidentally added exploits takes time and effort, which emphasizes the need to intentionally write code so that others may understand it. The difficulty with C++ is that things are designed to be hidden, making readability hard to attain. However, the reference client's code is simpler and easier to read than OpenSSL's source-code. Understanding what the code does is much easier than understanding what the effect of what the code does in terms of the system as a whole. Despite being simple and readable, it is difficult to express ideas in the code because of C++.
Updated on: 2023-06-07T18:10:07.721878+00:00