Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!ames!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: ANSI C-compliant compiler (info req)
Message-ID: <10281@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 17 May 89 22:06:03 GMT
References: <503@bnr-fos.UUCP> <10277@smoke.BRL.MIL> <198@maytag.waterloo.edu>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 18

In article <198@maytag.waterloo.edu> giguere@aries5.waterloo.edu (Eric Giguere) writes:
>technically though, there are NO ANSI-conformant compilers.

There are sure a lot of C compilers that attempt to be ANSI conforming,
most of them currently in Beta test.  Remember that there is a delay
between initial development of a product and its commercial availability.
Some compiler implementors have told me that they would wait until a year
after a feature appeared in the draft Standard before implementing it,
to allow time for problems to have surfaced and been solved.  There were
at least minor changes right up to the December 1988 draft, so you can
count forward from that date to estimate when you might be able to
obtain a compiler that attempts to be fully ANSI conforming.

Validation of compilers that claim Standard conformance is another issue.
I think there are efforts underway, and there certainly are test suites,
but I don't have accurate current information about compiler validation.
Validation is an issue because it would be the simplest way to demonstrate
compliance with procurement specifications that require Standard conformance.