Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!ut-sally!husc6!think!ames!ptsfa!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter From: peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter DaSilva) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Inline assembler; a quiz (long; sorry) Message-ID: <377@sugar.UUCP> Date: Fri, 10-Jul-87 08:35:10 EDT Article-I.D.: sugar.377 Posted: Fri Jul 10 08:35:10 1987 Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jul-87 06:15:29 EDT References: <608@zen.UUCP> <2299@hoptoad.uucp> <21211@sun.uucp> <830@omepd> <8253@utzoo.UUCP> Organization: Sugar Land UNIX - Houston, TX Lines: 28 Summary: But on UNIX all the sys calls glue is provided. In article <8253@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes: >> [my comments about operating systems needing heavy glue around sys calls] > >[UNIX systems also require glue arouns system calls] Well, yes. But when you get a UNIX 'C' compiler you also get a library that provides that glue for all the calls. Those of us with Amigas, Atari STs, and IBM-PCs (in increasing order of grossness of O/S interface) find that a lot of glue must be added in production programs. In the Amiga this is pretty much restricted to high level interrupt handlers, but still it's a pain to have a bunch of assembly files around. In the Atari ST the calling conventions are mostly C, but there are some things you need to go into assembly to do (handling ^C (!), writing desk accessories, etc). On the IBM-PC, it's a nightmare. Many of the calls return data that high level languages can't easily deal with even after you wipe off the glue. >The original PDP-11 Unixes had grossly non-C system-call conventions and >worked fine despite a C compiler that never supported "asm" at all. I know. I did a port of John James' PDP11 FIG-Forth to Version 7. But, once again, you get the glue with the kit. >Mars must wait -- we have un- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology >finished business on the Moon. {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry Have you ever heard Hope Eyrie? -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter (I said, NO PHOTOS!)