Learn English – jots and tittles — what does that actually mean

meaning

Source: C For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Example:

In addition to grammar, languages require rules, exceptions, jots and tittles, and all sorts of fun and havoc. Programming languages are similar to spoken language in that they have various parts and lots of rules.

Looking up jot gives "not a jot or tittle = not a bit" and "the least part of something".
Looking up tittle gives "superscript dot" and "The word tittle is rarely used." citing the Christian Bible.

I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean in the passage.
What's the actual meaning?

Best Answer

The use of the meaning of jots and tittles is kind of the same as in the dictionary, but different. As @TRomano has pointed out it can mean markings for typesetting, however C is notorious for using what the author in your excerpt is terming small symbols that have very significant meanings.

The same would be true for punctuation in writing. Commas (','), periods ('.'), question marks ('?'), exclamation points ('!') all convey different meanings. Consider the differences between

Hello.
Hello!
Hello?

The so called "jots and tittles" referred to by the author of your passage can be thought of as (a kind of) punctuation for the C language.

For example

. (period character)

is used to reference part of a data structure

something_struct.name

a = something_struct.name;

however, if one only has a pointer to the structure and not the actual structure one would use

a = pointer_to_something_struct -> name; (spaces added for clarity)

To define a block

{ ... } (curly brackets/braces)

if (my_condition){
do something;
} else {
otherwise do something else;
}

other languages like Python implicitly use indentation instead.

For conditional compilation ( C is a compiled language )

# (hash character)

#include
#ifdef
#ifndef

Each "line" of code ends with

; (semicolon)

One of the intentions of the curtness of the syntax was to avoid keystrokes and it's low-levelness was a result of basically being a step up from assembly language (as low as you can go). It also borrows concepts from Unix.

Most of the more "modern" languages are built on C (probably since C was there first): Python and Ruby are examples of this.

C is a great language, however, it is very low level and if you want an abstraction, you have to make it yourself(!) It is therefore very pedantic, which might not be to everyone's taste.

With all due respect for the series of books, C is not for dummies, and the reference to jots and tittles is as appropriate or inappropriate as if it was used to refer to punctuation in grammar.

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