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From: gwyn%brl-vld@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re:  Improving C
Message-ID: <17446@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Feb-84 20:05:54 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.17446
Posted: Thu Feb 23 20:05:54 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 15-Mar-84 07:14:33 EST
Lines: 21

From:  Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) 

I started to prepare detailed point-by-point responses to your suggestions
for "improvements" to C, but I got tired of it after a while.  Basically,
my impression is that you do not properly understand the charter of the C
language.  Many of your suggestions would force significant run-time
overhead for all C programs, to support operations that are either
unnecessary if you know how to use C effectively or can be done already
without forcing a global implementation that may not be suitable for all
applications.

The ANSI C Language Standards Committee has addressed most of the issues
that can be resolved without breaking the millions of lines of existing
C source code.  A more featureful follow-on language, C++, appears to be
under development inside AT&T Bell Laboratories; it includes abstract
data types a la "classes" and other improvements.  One rule for C itself
is to not add any keywords to the language; C++ would be exempt from this.

One of the great attractions of C is the simplicity and elegance of its
basic design (although there are a few misfeatures, certainly).  It would
be a pity to lose that in a sea of "features".