Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!rosevax!rose3!starfire!merlyn
From: merlyn@starfire.UUCP (Brian Westley)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: parens clarification
Message-ID: <190@starfire.UUCP>
Date: 24 Dec 87 20:35:00 GMT
Organization: Starfire Consultings Services, Mpls., MN
Lines: 18
Keywords: ()


In reading some of the articles about the new ANSI proposal for order of
evaluation, some people seem to be saying that:

a+b+c  ..is evaluated left to right as (a+b)+c  ..therefore, you could not
compute it as, say, a+(b+c)

Is simple left-to-right order of evaluation as strong as literal parentheses?
I would prefer that:

a+b+c  ..can be evaluated in any order

(a+b)+c  ..can be evaluated in 4 ways: (a+b)+c, (b+a)+c, c+(a+b), c+(b+a)
         ..but not as (a+c)+b, (c+a)+b, etc.

Can someone clarify what the current proposal says?

Merlyn LeRoy