Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ukma!gatech!rutgers!att!ulysses!andante!alice!debra
From: debra@alice.UUCP (Paul De Bra)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: UNIX C...
Message-ID: <8535@alice.UUCP>
Date: 14 Dec 88 18:49:13 GMT
References: <17801@adm.BRL.MIL>
Reply-To: debra@alice.UUCP ()
Organization: AT&T, Bell Labs
Lines: 36

In article <17801@adm.BRL.MIL> SPOCK%CALSTATE.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Commander Spock) writes:
]Although I have been in the UNIX community for some time now, I haven't
](Lord help me here) worked with 'C' during my experiences with UNIX.  In
]about the next few months, a couple of professors will be offering a class
]on the language 'C' and a question was raised whether or not to use UNIX.
]
]Now here is the question: what is the significant difference between using
]UNIX (AT&T SysV and/or BSD 4.3) 'C' versus an IBM Tubro 'C' (Borland) or
]a Macintosh Lightspeed 'C' (Symmetry)?  Is there a significant difference
]other than tase and preferences, or is there signifnificantly more involved?
]I have heard from other students and faculty members alike that have worked
]with 'C' that the UNIX 'C' is by far the most versatile and portable
]version available.  However, students may not want to learn UNIX, not to
]mention 'C', without having the creature-comforts of MS-DOS.
]
]Can anyone out there with 'C' experience help me in this situation?
]
I have heard that several good implementations of C exist for PCs and
Macs. The only significant differences are that system calls related to
user-id's, process-id's, piping, etc. don't make real good sense in a
single-user, single-tasking environment. All the nice environment fodder
can't make up for that.

The most important problem for students learning C on Unix is that they
may start loving the Unix environment so much that they feel the need to
trash their home-computer in order to get a machine that supports Unix.
Imagine: no more ridiculous icon-based operations, no more MS-DOG syntax,
but a pure and simple interface (in which it only takes a 4 character
command-line to remove all your files) combined with the most versatile
and user-configurable editor (GNU-Emacs of course). It's not the language
that makes the difference, it's the operating environment.

Paul.
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