Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!hao!noao!arizona!mike
From: mike@arizona.edu (Mike Coffin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: noalias; parens honored
Message-ID: <3366@megaron.arizona.edu>
Date: 6 Jan 88 18:31:34 GMT
References: <6829@brl-smoke.ARPA> <2845@zeus.TEK.COM> <6860@brl-smoke.ARPA> <12211@orchid.waterloo.edu>
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 46
Keywords: ANSI C standard
Summary: I've figured it out

I think I've figured this out. The committee decided it wanted to
make this big change to C --- forcing all compilers to honor parens, a
rule that is clearly violated by most existing compilers.  Now, they knew
that they'd get a lot of flack for this, since it clearly goes beyond
what they're supposed to do.  So, how to proceed?  MISDIRECTION!  I
can just hear A and B talking about it ...

	A> How the hell are we going to sneak this paren thing by??
	B> Gosh, I don't know.  They'll never let us get away with it...
	   maybe we should just write a new language.
	A> I know! Lets introduce a feature so awful, so ugly, so completely
	   idiotic, that no one will notice the paren thing.  
	   Then we can toss *it* out and keep the paren idea!
	   Lets see... hmmm...  maybe add a new keyword...no one would like
	   that...
	B> yeah! Make sure it's completely useless, though.  Unless it adds
	   absolutely *nothing* to the expressive power of the language
	   someone will probably *like* it.
	A> Too bad we already have "register", *that* would get 'em excited.
	B> It would be good if it were something that the compiler can't
	   possibly check...something that would cause really devilish bugs.
	A> How about something a little *like* "register"...
	B> ...or "volatile" --- that had a few of them pissed off!

	[two hours and a dozen cups of coffee later...]

	A> OK, we'll go with "noalias".  *Nobody* will buy that.
	   I can almost hear the screaming now.
	B> OK, but what does it mean?
	A> I don't know, but that's the beauty of it, don'cha see!
	   Now, you go write up a description, but make sure that it's
	   REAL confusing.
	B> OK... I just had this horrible thought:  what if "noalias" really 
	   makes it into the language?  
	A> Naaaah.  They're not smart, but they're not *THAT* dumb.
	   This is gonna work like a charm.  No one will even *notice*
	   the new paren rule.

:->
:->
	
-- 

Mike Coffin				mike@arizona.edu
Univ. of Ariz. Dept. of Comp. Sci.	{allegra,cmcl2,ihnp4}!arizona!mike
Tucson, AZ  85721			(602)621-4252