chumminess

How much of the chumminess and support offered by getting into YC is mission critical?If you can't answer that question, don't apply.

Also I'd probably never use this in C++. If you want to let subsequent programmers know you're using the variable length structure, add the comment: /* unwarranted chumminess with the compiler */

That sort of chumminess does not encourage more robust infrastructure, it makes it difficult for new entrants to compete based on better reliability, and ultimately does not benefit customers.

I'd heard some years ago that the Navy's nuclear operations officers and their nuclear safety officers are not allowed to even talk to each other, just to prevent any chumminess from creeping into the relationship.

I thought this was going to be about "Unwarranted chumminess with the compiler" - in the original C implementation of regular expressions and subsequently copied into every language port thereafter.

This chumminess isn't necessary--LuaJIT isn't particularly handicapped by avoiding it--but it's not something you can fix after the fact; it'd requiring starting an implementation from scratch, and that's probably not ever going to happen again, at least not merely for the purposes of providing better control flow semantics.