Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mandrill!gatech!uflorida!novavax!proxftl!bill From: bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Appreciation for ANSI C committee (was Re: Bug in new K&R?) Message-ID: <233@proxftl.UUCP> Date: 29 May 88 03:42:38 GMT References: <7861@alice.UUCP> <7860@brl-smoke.ARPA> <7288@bellcore.bellcore.com> <266@sdti.UUCP> Organization: Proximity Technology, Ft. Lauderdale Lines: 12 In article <266@sdti.UUCP>, mjy@sdti.UUCP (Michael J. Young) writes: ) There is a big difference between designing a completely new language from ) scratch and standardizing an existing language. The former is best done by ) a small number (perhaps one) of capable language designers. The latter is ) best done by a committee. Language design is a creative act, and committees ) are not very creative. A large part of standardization is finding common ) ground between all the different implementations of an existing language. ) In that process it is important to have as many perspectives as possible; ) hence, a committee. Agreed, as long as the committee's actions are constrained by respect for the original work.