Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att-cb!att-ih!pacbell!ptsfa!lll-tis!mordor!sri-spam!sri-unix!garth!walter
From: walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Volatile is Necessary
Message-ID: <589@garth.UUCP>
Date: 31 Mar 88 20:06:01 GMT
References: <8107@sol.ARPA> <77200028@uiucdcsp>
Reply-To: walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays)
Organization: INTERGRAPH (APD) -- Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 28
Posted: Thu Mar 31 12:06:01 1988

In article <77200028@uiucdcsp> gillies@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>C is not a multiprocessor systems programming language.  I'm sorry for
>you multiprocessor programmers.  My advice to you is to buy
>hypercubes, write in assembly language, or develop your own language [...]
>You can get what you want by adding a compiler-specific (#pragma type)
>extension, with no loss of generality.  [...]
>THE ONLY reason to keep it in the language is if you can argue it's
>important for uniprocessing.  [...]

I agree that C is a poor language for multiprocessors, though I'd
probably choose Ada over assembler.  I'm not concerned with
multiprocessors.  I am concerned with a C compiler that can generate
highly optimized code for 95% of application programs without fear of
generating incorrect code for systems programs, or for 5% of programs
with dangerous use of pointers and signals.  Yes, a #pragma would work
just fine.  So would a 'cc -Passed_Lint', but it would be nice if the
same mechanism worked on any UNIX machine, and great if it also worked
on non-UNIX machines.  You're right that, for standards, simpler is
better (another reference to Ada :-).  Maybe this is a POSIX issue
rather than a C issue.
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