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From: aburt@isis.UUCP (Andrew Burt)
Newsgroups: news.admin,news.groups
Subject: Re: Making binary groups obsolete (was Re:Are binary groups necessary?)
Message-ID: <1888@isis.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 25-Jul-87 23:03:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: isis.1888
Posted: Sat Jul 25 23:03:30 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 26-Jul-87 06:35:46 EDT
References: <266@brandx.rutgers.edu> <8225@utzoo.UUCP> <272@brandx.rutgers.edu> <153@hobbes.UUCP> <303@brandx.rutgers.edu>
Reply-To: aburt@isis.UUCP (Andrew Burt)
Organization: Math/CS, University of Denver
Lines: 33
Xref: mnetor news.admin:728 news.groups:1287

Regarding your proposal to write a C compiler so sources and not binaries
can be posted, here is a semi-cynical positive vote.  I personally prefer
sources, IF it's compilable by the compiler I happen to have.  If not, I
don't waste my time on it unless I see an urgent need:  My time is valuable
and, as I've said in a prior letter, limited.

Writing a C compiler without the library that has grown around it, which by
now has a mostly unchanging core of functions (stdio funcs, malloc, etc --
most of what was around at the time of K&R / v7 Unix) you will have wasted
your time.  Few peole except those with lots of time and patience will attempt
to compile any code with your compiler knowing that it will leave multitudes
of functions undefined in the linking phase.  Writing the COMPILER is not
sufficient to cause people to abandon binary postings -- your goal is for the
sources posted to actually be runable after going through your free C language
processor.  And what about extra-language utilities such as make?  That is
widely becomming a commonly expected facility.

Furthermore, saying you'll only implement K&R C (minus the addenda including
such as enum's, and thus I presume assigning/passing/returning structures,
etc.) is just to save you work.  If you're volunteering, do it right.
As for the draft ANSI standard, this will presumably become an accepted
standard in the near future.  Borland, Microsoft, et al., would not be so
stupid as to put ANSI draft compatibility into their commericial products
if they thought otherwise.

Wake up.  You can't have your cake [no binary postings] and eat it too
[not write a full C language programming environment].  If you're going
to do the work, don't do a half-assed job.
-- 

Andrew Burt 				   			isis!aburt

              Fight Denver's pollution:  Don't Breathe and Drive.