Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!scs!spl1!laidbak!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!ncar!noao!arizona!naucse!jdc
From: jdc@naucse.UUCP (John Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: Print symboints
Message-ID: <725@naucse.UUCP>
Date: 1 Jun 88 15:17:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: naucse.725
References: <880526-223840-3902@Xerox> <757@acer.stl.stc.co.uk>
Organization: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Lines: 25
Summary: Can't 'C' be a real language?

In article <757@acer.stl.stc.co.uk>, scott@stl.stc.co.uk (Mike Scott) writes:
: 
: I have just been writing a symbiont in C, and encountered this
: problem. C programs are all assumed to have a stdout, and this gets
: closed even if you don't use it - which actually crashes the job
: controller with an EOF written to its mailbox. Cure was to set an exit
: ast, close all needed files explictly and call sys$delprc before the C
: runtime system could do anything. Nasty, but it works. The problem is
: anything but obvious!
: 
: Why do DEC assumed that anyone writing in C wants a u*x - like
: environment? It causes quite a few problems like this one.

I seem to remember that the run-time initiation is supressed if you
don't have a ``main'' entry point.  At a company I worked for we tried
hard (and I think succeeded) in using 'C' strictly as a language without
including any of the run-time library.  I don't have time to resurrect
some of my early experiments, but maybe someone else can verify that
VMS 'C' can be used as a "real" language--without bringing into play any
of the run-time stuff.

-- 
	John Campbell               ...!arizona!naucse!jdc

	unix?  Sure send me a dozen, all different colors.