Xref: utzoo comp.lang.modula2:815 comp.lang.misc:1495 comp.lang.c:9629 comp.lang.pascal:837
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!oodis01!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wes
From: wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2,comp.lang.misc,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Flaming printf (was: Re: Modula2's godawful IO.)
Message-ID: <173@obie.UUCP>
Date: 24 Apr 88 20:39:51 GMT
References: <764@ndsuvax.UUCP> <535@m10ux.UUCP> <730@mhuxm.UUCP> <11154@mimsy.UUCP>
Organization: the Well of Souls
Lines: 23
Summary: MWC has two versions of printf

In article <11154@mimsy.UUCP>, chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
% It is not difficult[*] to arrange for the linker to pull in a simple
% printf() if the rest of the program does not use floating point, and a
% full-blown floating point printf if it does.  Just because Microsoft's
% implementation is poor (in terms of space, at any rate) is no reason to
% castigate printf itself.
% 
% -----
% [*]What, never?  Well, hardly ever.  The trick is to have the linker
% examine the undefined externals for floating-point library references,
% and if present, link with `bigprintf.obj'; otherwise it should use
% `littleprintf.obj'.  It is just a Small Matter of Programming.

The Mark Williams C compiler for the Atari ST sort of supports this
idea.  The printf library function does not ordinarily include
floating point routines.  If you specify the -f flag to the compiler,
the larger version of printf (with floating i/o) will be linked
instead.  Not quite as elegant was what Chris proposed, but really
quite functional.
-- 
    /\              -  "Against Stupidity,  -    {backbones}!
   /\/\  .    /\    -  The Gods Themselves  -  utah-cs!uplherc!
  /    \/ \/\/  \   -   Contend in Vain."   -   sp7040!obie!
 / U i n T e c h \  -       Schiller        -        wes