Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!att!ihlpb!nevin1
From: nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Liber)
Newsgroups: comp.std.c
Subject: Re: 31 character identifier length
Message-ID: <9265@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Date: 23 Dec 88 03:43:30 GMT
References: <3236@pegasus.ATT.COM> <9167@smoke.BRL.MIL> <12643@bellcore.bellcore.com> <9234@ihlpb.ATT.COM> <10237@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>
Reply-To: nevin1@ihlpb.UUCP (55528-Liber,N.J.)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 31

In article <10237@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US> jfh@rpp386.Dallas.TX.US (The Beach Bum) writes:

>My compiler d' jour provides warning messages only if two objects exist
>inside the same compilation unit and don't have names unique to 31
>characters.  One would hope the compiler would a) use the complete
>identifier, or 2) complain about a multiply defined symbol, but not
>accept a second definition and then ignore it ...

let me give a clearer example:

int	ThirtyTwoCharacterVariableIdentG;
...
void	foo(void)
{
	int	ThirtyTwoCharacterVariableIdentL;

	...
	ThirtyTwoCharacterVariableIdentG = 1;
	...
}

How a compiler handles this is, according to 3.1.2, 10/88 draft,
implementation limits section, paragraph 2, p.21:

"If two identifiers differ in a non-significant character, the behavior
is undefined."

In other words, using identifiers > 31 characters can be (although not
necessarily are) dangerous!
-- 
NEVIN ":-)" LIBER  AT&T Bell Laboratories  nevin1@ihlpb.ATT.COM  (312) 979-4751