Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: alloca() portability Keywords: portability, alloca Message-ID: <14407@smoke.brl.mil> Date: 9 Nov 90 07:42:15 GMT References: <499@taumet.com> <14377@smoke.brl.mil> <9122@ncar.ucar.edu> Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 11 In article <9122@ncar.ucar.edu> steve@groucho.ucar.edu (Steve Emmerson) writes: >In <14377@smoke.brl.mil> gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes: >>It is worth repeating over and over: DON'T WRITE CODE THAT USES alloca()! >But why? You yourself admitted that systems on which your alloca() >couldn't work are few and far between. Because it's not needed, so why ask for problems? When there are strictly conforming methods to achieve your ends, you should use them, because probably some day some poor slob is going to have to port your code to a radically different architecture, and the Golden Rule says you shouldn't make his life miserable.