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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!alberta!jeff
From: jeff@alberta.UUCP (C. J. Sampson)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: external names that aren't valid C identifiers
Message-ID: <416@alberta.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 23-Feb-85 00:49:46 EST
Article-I.D.: alberta.416
Posted: Sat Feb 23 00:49:46 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 02:49:57 EST
References: <6969@watdaisy.UUCP>
Reply-To: jeff@alberta.UUCP (C. J. Sampson)
Distribution: net
Organization: his Personal Computer
Lines: 21
Summary: We don't have to use the C compiler to massage strange names.

The problem:
	Someone may have to write a program to call a routine called
	"*SYS$CALL" under a non-UNIX operating system.  '$' is not
	a valid character in a variable or function name.

Proposed solution:
	Modify the C standard to allow '$' in variable and function
	names.  This has been objected to extensively.

Perhaps we could do this in the linker.  If people have strong objections to
changing the C compiler, a linker option could be implemented that would
make, say "_syscall" and "*SYS$CALL", or whatever, the same thing.  Another
alternatave, which saves re-writing either the compiler or the linker, and
that people on systems without source could do, would be to write a little
program that would massage the object file and change all refrences of 
"_syscall" to "*SYS$CALL".  Any comments on this idea?
=====================================================================
	Curt Sampson		ihnp4!alberta!jeff
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"It looked like something resembling white marble, which was probably
 what is was: something resembling white marble."