Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sri-unix!mike@RICE.ARPA From: mike@RICE.ARPA Newsgroups: net.lang.c Subject: Re: 6 char externs and the ANSI standard Message-ID: <12792@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Sun, 7-Oct-84 16:50:45 EDT Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12792 Posted: Sun Oct 7 16:50:45 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 11-Oct-84 05:48:38 EDT Lines: 20 From: Mike CaplingerI can't believe that anyone is seriously debating this. Come on! It's 1984! The only reason variable names were ever limited to any particular length is because linker writers in the 1960s and 70s were sleazes. How long are we going to pay that price? How long are we going to look at object modules as 80-column card images ala OS/360? Please, please! Don't put a limit on external identifiers! I guarantee you that at best it will just cause a flurry of "standard extensions". If C is to become portable, don't make it conform to the lowest common denominator. That's what has killed every other ANSI language standard. For example, when was the last time you wrote a program in ANSI PL/I? And nobody around here writes in Fortran 77 because X3J3 couldn't decide on the syntax of the WHILE loop! I just hope somebody who makes a difference actually reads this list. Mike Caplinger Computer Science Department, Rice University