Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: ANSI C standard distribution
Message-ID: <1989Feb19.000019.4272@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <19@xenlink.UUCP> <225800106@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> <310@twwells.uucp> <1989Feb7.225554.3086@utzoo.uucp> <1446@mcgill-vision.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 89 00:00:19 GMT

In article <1446@mcgill-vision.UUCP> mouse@mcgill-vision.UUCP (der Mouse) writes:
>a) The price of a book includes the physical book, not just the
>   information therein.  (How good is the typesetting, binding, etc of
>   what you get if you order the Standard?  I don't know; see also d.)

Binding is typically tech-report style, softcover and unimpressive.
Past ANSI standards have been okay as far as typesetting goes, although
apparently IEEE really botched the typesetting job on POSIX.

>c) Price: I have no firm idea of the price of a copy of the draft, but
>   my memory does come back with >$100US.  (Is this accurate?)

The drafts were pretty expensive (I think it was US$80) because they were
basically limited-market special-order items.  Unfortunately, don't expect
the final standard to be dirt-cheap; standards tend to be pricey no matter
where they come from, because the standards group likes to be able to pay
the rent.

>d) Mail-order only, not available at the corner bookstore.

No reason why it couldn't be available at the corner bookstore, if you
convince your corner bookstore that there will be mass demand for it
and are willing to pay a bit extra (or ANSI gives them a discount on
a bulk order).  Low-demand low-profit items will almost always be
mail order only, for obvious reasons.

>e) "Basicness": K&R is *more* than the Standard; it contains examples
>   and explanations and a bit of a tutorial.  The appendix, which is as
>   close as K&R comes to the Standard, is only 71 pages out of 261.

True.  On the other hand, K&R is also *less* than the Standard, partly
because it predated the final standard and will be out of date in minor
ways, and partly because it does not include the actual wording of the
standard, which is crucial when fine points must be resolved.  K&R is
definitely a better place to start to learn about ANSI C -- standards
are *not* easy reading -- but it is not really an adequate reference
if being 100% right is important to you.
-- 
The Earth is our mother;       |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
our nine months are up.        | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu