Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!adm!MAILER%ALASKA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU From: MAILER%ALASKA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Undelivered mail Message-ID: <12258@brl-adm.ARPA> Date: 12 Mar 88 05:19:14 GMT Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA Lines: 30 Subject: Re: Why NULL is 0 [Non-Deliverable: User does not exist or has never logged on] Reply-To: Info-C@BRL.ARPA Received: From UWAVM(MAILER) by ALASKA with Jnet id 6390 for SXJVK@ALASKA; Fri, 11 Mar 88 19:43 AST Received: by UWAVM (Mailer X1.25) id 4221; Fri, 11 Mar 88 20:40:44 PST Date: Fri, 11 Mar 88 23:34:09 GMT Reply-To: Info-C@BRL.ARPA Sender: Info-C List Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was ris@umd5.umd.EDU From: "Louis A. Mamakos" Subject: Re: Why NULL is 0 Comments: To: info-c@brl-smoke.arpa To: Vic Kapella In article <124@polygen.UUCP> pablo@polygen.uucp (Pablo Halpern) writes: >However, if I were writing a C compiler, I would choose a size for all >pointers equal to the size of the largest possible pointer. Please don't do this. On, for example, our Unisys 1100 machine, a "regular" pointer is 8 bytes long (2 words, 72 bits). A pointer to a function is 64 bytes long (8 words, 288 bits). Yes, this is a word-addressable machine with 4 9-bit bytes per word. The existing semantics work just fine if you don't assume programmer brain-damage. Louis A. Mamakos WA3YMH Internet: louie@TRANTOR.UMD.EDU University of Maryland, Computer Science Center - Systems Programming