Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:8807 comp.sys.ibm.pc:14007
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att-cb!att-ih!chinet!bigtex!james
From: james@bigtex.uucp (James Van Artsdalen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: cdecl keyword
Keywords: cdecl MicroSoft C keywords
Message-ID: <1443@bigtex.uucp>
Date: 3 Apr 88 21:33:23 GMT
References: <1238@wjvax.UUCP> <297@ho7cad.ATT.COM> <1242@wjvax.UUCP> <3867@super.upenn.edu> <185@premise.ZONE1.COM>
Reply-To: james@bigtex.UUCP (James Van Artsdalen)
Organization: F.B.N. Software, Austin TX
Lines: 21

IN article <185@premise.ZONE1.COM>, chang@premise.ZONE1.COM (John Chang) wrote:
> >  [...] C uses pass-by-value for everything.
> 		                    ^^^^^^^^^^ What about arrays? 

In C, arrays are _never_ passed to functions.  Only the addresses of arrays.
These are passed by value only.

> The extra instruction needed to pop the stack after a function call
> seems unimportant, yet I once heard Microsoft claim that the change to
> pascal calling convention made Microsoft Windows "substantially"
> smaller and faster.  I don't remember the figures, but they were
> hard to believe.

Hard to believe, but true.  Ultima IV became several K smaller and noticeably
quicker after the conversion.  Unfortunately, I don't remember the numbers
either, but it was enough to be worth the trouble (though to be fair, a game
must make especially pessimistic assumptions concerning available memory and
processor speed).
-- 
James R. Van Artsdalen    ...!uunet!utastro!bigtex!james     "Live Free or Die"
Home: 512-346-2444 Work: 328-0282; 110 Wild Basin Rd. Ste #230, Austin TX 78746