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From: gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: THINK C Suggestions
Message-ID: <1990Oct10.231849.22728@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 11 Oct 90 00:16:24 GMT
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Organization: University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
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In article <1990Oct9.020415.16763@eng.umd.edu>, russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes...
[...]
>No, instead as minus shift right.  You can't win.  If you make a smart
>compiler, you can recognize handles to structs and add the extra de-reference
>automagically-- I'd like to see that (in both THINK and MPW.)


No no no.  The compiler should not be doing any of this sort of stuff behind
your back.  POINTER != HANDLE, therefore you should not be able to use a handle
in the same way lexically as a pointer.  As someone pointed out previously, if
you let the compiler "add the extra de-reference automagically" with handles,
then why not with pointers, and have myPtr->myField become myPtr.myField? 
Because it's confusing, and you forget you have a pointer.  Similarly with
handles.

Robert

============================================================================
= gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to =
=            		         * all my opinions are *  compute"         =
=                                * mine                *  -Kraftwerk       =
============================================================================