Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bunny!cayman!brad
From: brad@cayman.COM (Brad Parker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: LSC prototypes & ANSI
Message-ID: <1467@cayman.COM>
Date: 11 Sep 88 16:00:22 GMT
References: <6231@spool.cs.wisc.edu>
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge Ma
Lines: 35

From article <6231@spool.cs.wisc.edu>, by engber@speedy.cs.wisc.edu
(Mike Engber):
> ...
> Now, I'm glad you did implememnt the prototypes you did because It
lets me
> program more reliably, but I think the issue I've raised deserves some
> immediate attention. I think a lot of people use the prototypes, and when
> you get around to fixing up your implementation you will be faced with the
> choice of conforming to ANSI exactly or breaking a lot of existing code.

This is a good point. We write code here which often starts out in as LSC
environment but later ends up in an ANSI compiler. We have been forced to
#ifdef our prototypes depending on the environment. The LSC prototypes are
not correct in the ANSI world. Most distressing.

> 
> The reason I haven't posted this to the net is that it's a pretty subtle
> detail in the draft. (I stumbled on it accidentally) I don't think anyone
> is going to care (until it breaks their code) Maybe you guys could think
> about how you're going to resolve the problem and post something about it.
> That way I can make sure I'm writing code that will be compatible with
> future versions.
> 

We stumbled on this a while ago. I would like to see a compiler switch which
chooses between "LSC prototypes" and "ANSI prototypes". This would make the
migration less painfull.



-- 
"What will you do when you wake up one morning to find that God's made you
blind in a beautiful person's world and all those great recepies have let you
down, and you're twenty and a half and you're not getting age where you go look
for the boys 'says I love you lets get married and have kids." -Billy Bragg.