Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Portability and BS
Message-ID: <1988May26.170107.436@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <11530@mimsy.UUCP>, <64400010@convex>
Date: Thu, 26 May 88 17:01:07 GMT

> This alignment issue is not so simple.  In the IBM 360 family, the 360
> machines required "ints" to be aligned mod 4; the 370 and
> later processors did not... the 68020 again relaxes the alignment
> restrictions.

Remember, too, that both the 370 and the 68020 impose serious performance
penalties on unaligned accesses.  Most any unaligned-operand machine will
end up doing so, unless it only has an 8-bit memory bus.  Alignment is
*always* a good idea.
-- 
"For perfect safety... sit on a fence|  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
and watch the birds." --Wilbur Wright| {ihnp4,decvax,uunet!mnetor}!utzoo!henry