Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!dog.ee.lbl.gov!elf.ee.lbl.gov!torek From: torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Portability Issues Message-ID: <12561@dog.ee.lbl.gov> Date: 27 Apr 91 13:01:52 GMT References: <2573@plx.UUCP> <1991Apr25.205236.21765@odgate.odesta.com> Reply-To: torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek) Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley Lines: 27 X-Local-Date: Sat, 27 Apr 91 06:01:52 PDT In article mcdaniel@adi.com (Tim McDaniel) writes: >>... "Portable C" by Henry Rabinowitz and Chaim Schaap. Prentice-Hall, 1990. > >... The authors have a basic understanding of C, but they miss, >misrepresent, or state small inaccuracies about a lot of points. (No comment here, since I have not read the book.) >They also advocate practices that are unsafe in any language. ... >The most glaring problem is section 9.10, "Porting other people's >code". [method mostly deleted: see parent article, or the book itself] > > It is possible to post a large program written by others without > understanding how it works. ... > >How do you even START to criticize that?!? The funny thing is that this technique often works. It should, however, be considered a last resort, to be used only when one is pressed for time. Depending on the program, this `time-saving' method sometimes backfires (one would do better to read and recode the program than debug it `inch by inch', as it were). If Rabinowitz and Schaap give it as `the' method, this is indeed a disservice. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Lawrence Berkeley Lab CSE/EE (+1 415 486 5427) Berkeley, CA Domain: torek@ee.lbl.gov