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From: eric@snark.UUCP (Eric S. Raymond)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: MAJOR ANSI C FLAW (my opinion, of course)
Message-ID: <234@snark.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Oct-87 11:24:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: snark.234
Posted: Mon Oct 19 11:24:30 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Oct-87 00:32:48 EDT
Organization: Benevolent Space Xist Retirement Home
Lines: 29
Summary: The most sensible idea yet!

In article <9840@brl-adm.ARPA>, vis!greg@bass.nosc.MIL writes:
> There is a way to allow full external name significance without
> running afoul of old linkers, etc.
> 
> A source to source translator can be provided which reduces the
> significance of C external identifiers to six monocase characters.

Three cheers for this man! He has found a way to cut the Gordian knot!

Like him, I've found myself reluctantly siding with the 'conservatives'
on this issue -- it would be a disaster if major vendors were to torpedo
or ignore the X3J11 standard because of conversion costs. And it is true
that the six-character limit is not a new restriction.

On the other hand, the limit really is a sufficiently royal pain that I think
we'd all vastly prefer, given any out, not to have it in X3J11. And Greg's idea
gives us a way to do that that doesn't break old code *and* puts the
conformance burden where it belongs -- on the vendors with the botched archaic
linkers, not the rest of us.

I say: hear! hear! hear! Please, Greg, make this a formal proposal and submit
it to X3J11 (I'd do it, but you deserve the kudos, paeans and glory). And you
official-unofficial X3J11 people out there; if there's something fatally
wrong with the concept, let us know *now* before we start writing the PD
translator.
-- 
      Eric S. Raymond
      UUCP:  {{seismo,ihnp4,rutgers}!cbmvax,sdcrdcf!burdvax,vu-vlsi}!snark!eric
      Post:  22 South Warren Avenue, Malvern, PA 19355    Phone: (215)-296-5718