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From: chris@umcp-cs.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: 6 char externs and the ANSI standard
Message-ID: <337@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Oct-84 02:09:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.337
Posted: Sat Oct 13 02:09:13 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 14-Oct-84 04:49:45 EDT
References: <12792@sri-arpa.UUCP> <454@voder.UUCP> <1570@nsc.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 29

*	From: chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Zonker T. Chuqui)

	But look at reality for a second.  there are many, many, MANY
	systems out there with this (or similar) restrictions [short
	external names] inbred into the system software. Manufacturers
	who would want to implement a standard C compiler would have to
	change ALL of their software to meet that standard. For example,
	the DEC people would not only have to change/'fix' vax-11C, but
	cobol, pascal, fortran, bliss, logo, smalltalk, euclid, macro,
	and the kitchen sink.

Wait a minute.  First of all, doesn't VMS support 31-character names?
But more important, no one would have to change ALL their software to
meet a new standard.  They have lots of options: don't support it (or
the "full" version); write a new linker that can be used with (probably
only with) the C compiler; come up with funny hash/name-translation
schemes, etc.

(By the way, speaking of ``break zoop'' vs ``goto out'' -- when you get
right down to it, it amounts to the same thing, so the ``structuredness''
should be the same, given a reasonable definition (like flowgraph
reducibility).  The ONLY REALLY important thing is how it affects you
humans :-).)
-- 
(This mind accidently left blank.)

In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci (301) 454-7690
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