Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!travis!tom From: tom@ssd.csd.harris.com (Tom Horsley) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Seven Original Sins of K&R (Long) Message-ID: Date: 26 Sep 90 11:39:23 GMT References: <12780@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> Sender: news@travis.csd.harris.com Followup-To: comp.lang.c Organization: Harris Computer Systems Division Lines: 23 In-reply-to: mautner@odin.ucsd.edu's message of 25 Sep 90 15:44:40 GMT What? only seven? In this list, the only one that seems unforgivable to me is VII - short names, but you left out the most absolutely awful and despicable sin of all: VIII The eight (and worst) original sin was allowing arrays to (sometimes) be kind of automatically converted sort-of into pointers to the first element of the array except when they aren't. Without a doubt this psuedo equivalence between arrays and pointers that works most of the time except when it doesn't has caused more confusion and twisted more brains of people trying to learn C than any other feature. If I want the address of an array, why not stick an '&' operator in front of it like I have to do for EVERY OTHER kind of variable in C? -- ====================================================================== domain: tahorsley@csd.harris.com USMail: Tom Horsley uucp: ...!uunet!hcx1!tahorsley 511 Kingbird Circle Delray Beach, FL 33444 +==== Censorship is the only form of Obscenity ======================+ | (Wait, I forgot government tobacco subsidies...) | +====================================================================+