Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!ucbjade!mwm From: mwm@ucbopal.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer) Newsgroups: net.sources.bugs Subject: Re: Using identifiers with more than 7 chars. #$%@ Message-ID: <408@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: Wed, 5-Mar-86 17:00:27 EST Article-I.D.: ucbjade.408 Posted: Wed Mar 5 17:00:27 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 8-Mar-86 18:35:45 EST References: <526@dsi1.UUCP> <29@gilbbs.UUCP> Sender: network@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: mwm@ucbopal.UUCP (Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer) Distribution: net Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 28 In article <29@gilbbs.UUCP> mc68020@gilbbs.UUCP (Tom Keller) writes: >or some other form of UNIX! If you are going to post software with major >system dependencies (such as long identifier names) LABEL them in the >summary, damn it! Sigh. Here we go again. First things first: you should *not* use long names that differ in the last few characters. Put the differences in the *front* of the name, where they are easy to find. That makes for much more readable code. Now, back to the flames (ain't they fun!). Using long names is *not* a system dependency, it's a compiler depenency. My Lattice/Amiga compiler swallows 31-char names, no problem. How should I tag those? What about using voids, as some compilers don't support those at all? How about void *func(), as 4.2BSD doesn't handle it? Function prototyping (once again, Lattice/Amiga has it)? Structure assignment and friends? Should we tag *all* of those? Finally, System V now supports flexnames, and Ultrix has always had it. If you're not running 4.2BSD or System V, it's your own fault (if you've got a vendor still selling 4.1, System III or v7, you should change vendors!). If your vendor hasn't upgraded to the latest version of System V, you should go shout at them. If you're on a micro, you probably need to buy/should have bought a better C compiler. But those are usually the compilers that are going to have more serious problems than lack of long names.