Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site opus.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) Newsgroups: net.lang.c Subject: Re: 6 char externs and the ANSI standard Message-ID: <879@opus.UUCP> Date: Thu, 11-Oct-84 15:25:49 EDT Article-I.D.: opus.879 Posted: Thu Oct 11 15:25:49 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Oct-84 02:21:02 EDT References: <4095@tekecs.UUCP> Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO Lines: 22 > Here's another hot issue in the committee. Should the minimum character > limit for external symbols be longer than 6 chars, case indistinct? ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^ This one almost got past me. What's this? It seems that the matter of case distinction is thornier than the 6-char business, unless I'm missing something obvious. What can the standard say? I see: 1. Case matters in externals. Breaks some systems which ignore case; standard-conforming programs would fail on these systems. 2. Case doesn't matter. Breaks more systems which distinguish case; standard-conforming program would fail on these systems. 3. Case is not allowed to matter--i.e., a program is not standard- conforming if it contains externals which are distinguished only by case. I suppose (3) is what we'll get? I would certainly prefer (1) just on the basis of C's case-sensitivity (about which I have mixed feelings but I'd like the (foolish) consistency). -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Relax...don't worry...have a homebrew.