Re: Writing own source disk

On 04/06/2024 14:40, Ben Bacarisse wrote:

Malcolm McLean <malcolm.arthur.mclean@gmail.com> writes:
 

On 03/06/2024 13:11, Ben Bacarisse wrote:

But from a practical point of view, yes my quine is  massively
powerful. Most graphical programs do have images as source. And they just
get zipped up into the FileSystem XML file. So any binary data can be
included. Easily, Using exactly the same system.

 I'm not getting it.  Why do I want a quine in connection to a graphical
program?  I want a way to include everything in the distribution, but
we've had that for ages.  Why is having a program that outputs something
you already have (by defintion!) of any use?
 

My C compiler embeds the the standard headers it uses within the executable. That makes for a tidy, run-anywhere application as it is a single file.
Most users will not need to see or use the discrete headers. But if somebody does, there is an option to extract them:
    mcc -writeheaders
I suppose this could have been widened to include its own source, but that would be less useful.
In either case, I don't think 'quine' is a good term for it. Nor for what it sounds like Malcolm has achieved.
AFAICS, pure quines are not intended to have any practical use at all.