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From: asylvain@felix.UUCP (Alvin "the Chipmunk" Sylvain)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: C's sins of commission
Message-ID: <152323@felix.UUCP>
Date: 12 Oct 90 22:23:13 GMT
References: <5006@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> <64616@lanl.gov> <5088@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> <2884@igloo.scum.com>
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Reply-To: asylvain@felix.UUCP (Alvin "the Chipmunk" Sylvain)
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In article <2884@igloo.scum.com> nevin@igloo.UUCP (Nevin Liber) writes:
::[I added comp.lang.misc to the list of newsgroups; please follow-up to
::the appropriate newsgroup ONLY.]

Which is the appropriate newsgroup?  If comp.lang.misc is not appropriate,
why'd you add it?  Why do I get the feeling that no one in comp.society.futures
was or is or will be interested?  Anywho ...

::In article <5088@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> brendan@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au writes:
::
::>The percieved need for
::>side-effects in terms is merely a by-product of the poor state of language
::>design, and would not be missed at all in better languages.
::
::I disagree.  This would throw out all functions which maintain their
::own state (eg: i/o).
[...]

Nope.  C (at least) allows for variables to be 'static'.  No need
for side-effects to maintain the function's internal state.

Unfortunately, Pascal doesn't suffer from this convenience.  This causes a
programmer to load up more and more junk into the 'program'-level 'var'
declaration, until it's almost as hard to debug as FORTRAN COMMON statements.
Heaven help you if two or more subroutines are both using a global 'IDX'
in different contexts.  There, your argument about side-effects probably holds.

Any post-modern (after Pascal) language allows the declaration of a
variable which is local to the routine, but doesn't change between
invokations.  Side-effects are not necessary for state-maintenance.

Period.
--
=============Opinions are Mine, typos belong to /bin/ucb/vi=============
"We're sorry, but the reality you have dialed is no   |            Alvin
longer in service.  Please check the value of pi,     |   "the Chipmunk"
or pray to your local diety for assistance."          |          Sylvain
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