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From: ccc_ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2
Subject: Re: Modula-2, get real.
Message-ID: <729.267677b4@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 13 Jun 90 05:28:20 GMT
References: <5385.2673196E@puddle.fidonet.org>
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lines: 19

I do not agree that a minimum specification for doing I/O, or heap
management, or concurrency, or anything else that requires run-time
library support, should be part of the definition of a systems-level
programming language.

Such specifications are usually more trouble than they're worth.
Consider the "portable" C I/O library, and consider using it for such
a simple task as making a copy of a file: your program might work
on UNIX and MS-DOS, but not on much else. Systems where your program
*wouldn't* generally succeed in making a usable copy of a file include
VAX/VMS and Macintosh. And then there's a system like the Amiga, where
what you mean by a "file" depends on whether you're looking at things via
Intuition or via the CLI.

Lawrence D'Oliveiro
Computer Services Dept                    fone: +64-71-562-889
University of Waikato                      fax: +64-71-384-066
Hamilton, New Zealand            electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz
"ATM--is that short for asynchronous TDM?"