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From: alexc@dartvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: portability; bit*
Message-ID: <2667@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 16:08:15 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.2667
Posted: Thu Jan  3 16:08:15 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Jan-85 02:00:00 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 14

It isn't much of a portability argument that C runs on both  PDP-
11  and  370s.  Both are byte addressed, though I believe the 370
has more alignment constraints.

Contrast C implementation on a Honeywell  mainframe  (as,  I  be-
lieve,  Waterloo  has  done).  The machine is word addressed, not
byte  addressed.   However  there  are  string  instructions  and
pointers  which can index by a character count.  For that matter,
there are bit string instructions which can index by a bit count.
C  and  C programmers assume that the machine is easily character
addressed, but the language takes no notice of bit addressing.

I therefore propose that the bit type be added to C, with  atten-
dant bit*, bit[] bit(), etc.