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From: mcdaniel@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (Tim McDaniel)
Newsgroups: comp.std.c
Subject: Re: What namespaces are available?
Keywords: namespace, reserved, semi-reserved
Message-ID: <543@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 13 Mar 89 01:41:47 GMT
References: <11975@haddock.ima.isc.com> <528@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu> <11982@haddock.ima.isc.com> <535@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu> <832@Portia.Stanford.EDU>
Sender: news@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu
Reply-To: mcdaniel@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu (Tim McDaniel)
Organization: Center for Supercomputing R&D (Cedar), U. of Ill.
Lines: 45

karl@haddock.ima.isc.com (Karl Heuer) writes (marked with ">"):
>	_[a-z0-9][_A-Za-z0-9]*	what I called semi-reserved

karish@forel.stanford.edu (Chuck Karish) writes (marked with "%"):
% These names are reserved for possible use by the implementation,
% according to Section 4.1.2 of the May, 1988 draft of the dpANS.  If
% they are used in application programs, the behavior is undefined.
% They are, however, usable by programmers.
%
% If you're writing NON-PORTABLE library functions to support
% applications in a specific hardware/software environment, you can use
% this namespace (after checking for actual conflicts on your particular
% system) without polluting the namespace that is available for portable
% programs.
%
% Chuck Karish	karish@denali.stanford.edu
% 		hplabs!hpda!mindcrf!karish
% 		(415) 493-7277

This behavior just seems so useless.  It's not a problem for me,
understand; it's just something I'm scratching my head over and saying
"What were they thinking of?".

If I use the semi-reserved namespace, I have to "check for actual
conflicts on my particular system" (with the implementation and with
other libraries) and can avoid "polluting the namespace that is
available for portable programs."  I have to check the implementation
uses because it might be using semi-reserved names.

If I use the reserved namespace, I HAVE TO DO THE EXACT SAME THINGS.
Either way, it's non-portable.  Either way, the user namespace is not
polluted.

Am I missing something obvious?  If so, PLEASE let me know and I'll
just shut up.

--

             Tim, the Bizarre and Oddly-Dressed Enchanter

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