Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!decvax!ima!mirror!frog!john
From: john@frog.UUCP (John Woods)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: libpw.a
Message-ID: <1250@frog.UUCP>
Date: 12 Apr 89 20:18:00 GMT
References: <157@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <10013@smoke.BRL.MIL> <8184@chinet.chi.il.us>
Organization: Misanthropes-R-Us
Lines: 17

In article <8184@chinet.chi.il.us>, les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell) writes:
> In article <10013@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>) writes:
> >libPW.a is utterly obsolete (and generally poorly designed and
> >coded).
> 
> Does this mean that programmers shouldn't use alloca() or that a
> well designed and coded version should be put in the standard
> library?
> 
Programmers shouldn't use alloca().  The standard implementation of allocating
a chunk of stack is not applicable to all computer architectures or compilers,
and the non-stack-based implementations require too much conspiracy and
machination to be efficient and worthwhile.
-- 
John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA, (508) 626-1101
...!decvax!frog!john, john@frog.UUCP, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw@eddie.mit.edu
	Healed Head BAD, Bleeding Head GOOD!