From: utzoo!decvax!microsof!gordonl
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Title: stdio buffering
Article-I.D.: microsof.578
Posted: Sat Jul 31 09:36:21 1982
Received: Sun Aug  1 04:40:20 1982
References: sri-unix.2336

We are aware of the stdio/tty buffering problem, but find the
Berkeley solution inadequate.  Too many programs, especially
screen-oriented ones, expect fragments of output to appear on the
screen immediately.  Some, for example, use rawio and 'read' for
character input; when we move these to our 4.1bsd vax they
stop working!

	Our fix to stdio was designed to guarantee transparency
of function while improving performance.  Basically, we buffer output
and flush it through whenever stdio returns control to the user program.
Thus, the output for a 'printf' or 'puts' will go out as one write.

On the bad news side, programs written to do 'putc's see no gain
with our stdio.  However, we felt we could not accept the Berkeley
method as it breaks previously working programs.

	gordon letwin
	microsoft