chaim@delftcc.UUCP (Chaim Schaap) (02/08/90)
As a frequent reader of comp.lang.c, I'd like to let other readers know about the publication of a book I wrote with Chaim Schaap which addresses many of the recurring concerns of this netgroup. It is called *Portable C* and is published by Prentice Hall. The book is a guide for the practicing C programmer on how to develop a style of coding which will port easily from one environment to others. In addition to many lurid examples of nonportable code, the book gives a set of positive rules which, if you integrate them into your practice, will spare your code from machine dependencies. The book also includes the "C-World," a semantic model of C which will deepen your understanding of the language. The C-World is a way of picturing the operations of a C program in execution that does not depend on the architecture of the underlying machine. The book deals with the ANSI standard as well as various earlier dialects of C, and suggests a style of coding that will work in both ANSI and non-ANSI environments. Writing portable code is more an art than a science. It is easier to show pitfalls than to recommend desirable practices. Nonetheless, we spent many long hours trying to come up with a set of rules that would retain the power of C while also working on a large universe of machines and compilers. We welcome feedback on our rules for portability, comments on the book, and also descriptions of any unusual encounters you may have had yourself with the strange world of porting code. You can email to henryr@nynexst.com or to the usenet address from which you received this message. |------------------------------------------------------------| | Henry Rabinowitz, NYNEX Science & Technology, 914-683-2855 | | 500 Westchester Ave 1B24, White Plains, NY 10604 | |------------------------------------------------------------|