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From: ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c,net.micro.pc,net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: Varargs, portability
Message-ID: <5518@alice.uUCp>
Date: Fri, 23-May-86 16:38:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: alice.5518
Posted: Fri May 23 16:38:01 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 25-May-86 11:53:50 EDT
References: <916@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
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Xref: watmath net.lang.c:9124 net.micro.pc:8356 net.unix-wizards:18175

>>Is the following program portable to any machine which provides a
>>(reasonable) implementation of C.
>> ...
>>	joe( 1,2.5,3,4.5,5,6.5,7,8.5,9,10.5,11,12.5,13,14.5,15, 16.5, 17, 
>>18.5, 19,20.5,21,22.5,23,24.5,25,26.5,27,28.5,29,30.5,31,32.5,33,34.5,35,36.5,
>>37,38.5,39,40.5,41,42.5,43,44.5,45,46.5,47,48.5,49,50.5,51,52.5) ;
>
>No, because you have exceeded the VAX's 255-byte argument limit.

Putting it another way: some compilers may be broken.

It is the compiler's job to shield users from silly restrictions
in the hardware.  Of course, some compilers fall down on the job.