Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!seismo!brl-adm!brl-smoke!smoke!rbj@icst-cmr From: rbj@icst-cmr (Root Boy Jim) Newsgroups: net.lang.c Subject: Re: C Builtin Funxions Message-ID: <668@brl-smoke.ARPA> Date: Thu, 8-May-86 13:22:32 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-smok.668 Posted: Thu May 8 13:22:32 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 11-May-86 02:44:19 EDT Sender: news@brl-smoke.ARPA Lines: 50 In article <1700010@umn-cs.UUCP> herndon@umn-cs.UUCP writes: > > I feel compelled to go on record as being VERY MUCH AGAINST >having reserved procedure names in C. For those of us who have >ever written stand-alone code for PDP-11s, VAXen, ..., it is >a simple matter, as things stand, to compile our programs, >and then have them linked with our own versions of 'putc', >'read', etc. stashed in stand-alone libraries. > ... >In addition, porting the C compiler to a different OS on the >same machine only requires that the libraries be re-written >(almost always). Building those functions into the language >implies that there will be much code for special casing those >functions. Nowhere is it required that the compiler have any special knowledge of the reserved names in the library. Yes, *some* compilers will undoubtedly have *some* special knowledge of *some* of those names, but the ANSI spec does *NOT* *require* the compiler to know anything about any reserved library names. Please, do NOT flame about statements that are not made in the spec. There are enough statements that ARE made in the spec that may be worth flaming about (although I hope that rational discusssion, rather than flames, result). He didn't say it would be *required*. Neither did I. We don't want it even allowed, unless we can turn it off. I would even go one step further and require that you explicitly turn it on for each function. If you don't have a copy of the current state of the proposed standard, GET ONE! Yeah, fork over another $20 for an out-of-date copy. Possibly the one you already have. They should be free, posted to net.sources, and distributed by the NIC or some such. See quote at end of article. Marty Shannon UUCP: ihnp4!attunix!mjs Phone: +1 (201) 522 6063 Disclaimer: I speak for no one. "If I never loved, I never would have cried." -- Simon & Garfunkel "Well I've paid all the dues I want to pay" -- S & G (Root Boy) Jim Cottrell "One man gathers what another man spills"