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From: hwe@lanl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: c programming style
Message-ID: <28448@lanl.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 18-Jul-85 15:31:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: lanl.28448
Posted: Thu Jul 18 15:31:12 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jul-85 10:03:42 EDT
References: <11570@brl-tgr.ARPA> <935@teddy.UUCP> <289@greipa.UUCP>
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 30

The original purpose of:
	char *p;

	while (*p++)...

was to allow the PDP-11 auto increment mode to be exploited.
The code above would generate something like...

	tstb @(r0)+

while the code:
	while (*p)
		p += 1;
would/could (depending on the smarts of the compiler) generate an "inc"
instruction.

In discussions of C, the following points should be remembered...

1.	The inventors (Ritchie and friends) of C were GOOD assembly
	programmers who recognised the utility of the new-fangled
	structured concepts.

2.	C was primarily a vehicle for VERY GOOD assembly language
	programmers to take advantage of the new structured programming
	while keeping the close-to-the-machine power needed (??) for
	system programming.

While I do support active discussions of programming style, p++ vs p += 1
and so on, have deeper significance than just style.
				Skip Egdorf