Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!sdd.hp.com!apollo!vinoski
From: vinoski@apollo.HP.COM (Stephen Vinoski)
Newsgroups: comp.std.c
Subject: H&S III strcat() wrong?
Message-ID: <5075771f.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 19 Mar 91 14:57:00 GMT
Sender: root@apollo.HP.COM
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 28


I just received my copy of the 3rd edition of "C: A Reference Manual" by
Harbison and Steele.  They state that the strcat() function can be implemented
as:

          char *
          strcat(char *s1, const char *s2)
          {
            s1 += strlen(s1);
            strcpy(s1, s2);
            return s1;
          }

Since the return value does not point to the beginning of the original s1, is
this implementation standard-conforming?

(BTW, in the ~50 pages I read of H&S III last night, I found lots of blatant
typographical errors, some of them in the function prototypes for standard
library functions.  I'm returning the book to Prentice-Hall and letting them
know that their quality needs heavy improvement.  Does anybody actually
proofread technical books before publishing them anymore?)


-steve
| Steve Vinoski  (508)256-0176 x5904       | Internet: vinoski@apollo.hp.com  |
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