Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:12157 comp.arch:6177
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.arch
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: one large array in Pascal
Message-ID: <1988Aug28.050611.20930@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <5262@june.cs.washington.edu> <260@thor.wright.EDU> <479@m3.mfci.UUCP> <36174@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> <1268@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 88 05:06:11 GMT

In article <1268@mcgill-vision.UUCP> mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) writes:
>I know of at least one which isn't: TeX.
>
>Why did Knuth do it this way?  I can only guess; I would guess that
>it's for some portability reason I am not aware of.

Well, a friend of mine who visited there in TeX's early days said, "those
people know *nothing* about portability".  Undoubtedly they've learned
since, but don't overlook the possibility that this is a historical relic
rather than something done after knowledgeable consideration of the
alternatives.
-- 
Intel CPUs are not defective,  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
they just act that way.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu