rwl@uvacs.UUCP (Ray Lubinsky) (02/23/86)
> >Any implementation of C that doesn't provide redirection and command-line > >argument passing is half-assed at best. : > The above comment implies that a computer that doesn't have command > lines and files "is half-assed at best". Most of the computers one uses > do not have these features. For example, the computer in my VCR, my > terminal, my microwave, my thermostat, etc. I would be willing to bet > that none of these is currently programmed in C, but it would be > possible for C to be used. > -- > Barry Margolin No, I don't think that the above statement has any implication about machines; just implementations of C. Should we pare the language so it will fit the lowest-common-denominator system? I hope not; I program for time-sharing systems. I've never written a microwave oven controller. And if you are developing oven controllers on time-sharing system (certainly you're not going to develop them directly on the chip), do you really want a C compiler that breaks on almost every other program written? It's one thing to avoid using features of C and its usual libraries for the sake of a specific application, but it's another to kludge them back in if they're not there. -- Ray Lubinsky University of Virginia, Dept. of Computer Science UUCP: decvax!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!rwl OR cbosgd!uvacs!rwl