gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (01/01/70)
In article <1112@laidbak.UUCP> guardian@laidbak.UUCP writes: >Let chars be 8 bits, ints be 2*8, longs be 4*8, doubles be 8*8 Get real -- C has to fit available computers, not the other way around. In fact, (int) CANNOT be as small as you suggest in any process address space > 15 bits without causing problems. It should not matter for the vast majority of applications just how many bits are in a data type, so long as there are enough; the remaining applications are trying to do something non-portable anyway. If you're going to suggest changes to C, please make them realistic. There is enough traffic in this group already without starting utterly irrelevant discussions.
guardian@laidbak.UUCP (Harry Skelton) (08/19/87)
In article <2163@xanth.UUCP> kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: : :[I just _know_ this is gonna get me flamed. Line eater, eat this posting!] : :Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed how C is being warped, made :ugly and complex, because ONE microprocessor manufacturer couldn't see :fit to provide a flat, linear address space? How about if we just :write off the 8086 and 80286, and the usual mode of the 80386, and :design C as if pointers were NOT structures, there was only ONE :address zero, and so on? If someone _has_ to use those bizzare devices, :let him invent a compiler that reads "virtual machine C" (i.e., flat :address space) and kludges it for the weird case, but let the standard :C language treat the machine as if designed by a rational being. : :I don't think it is a useful endeavor to labor at such length to embed :the hardware design mistakes of the past in the C standards of the :future. >Kent, the man from xanth. [ Well Kent, - I guess I'll have to have the CO.2 standing by on this one too] I must agree to your idea of a generic 'C' without the games a compiler can play with memory space or the gazillion ways one can find a different version of 'int' laying about. As all of us 'programmers' are trying to make a 'C' standard, I think we fail to realize that standard is a old #2 pencil and not another refillable click pencil. [ as I hear the Bic lighters being kick started ] Let chars be 8 bits, ints be 2*8, longs be 4*8, doubles be 8*8 Float can be a kludge for those who can't think whole numbers or be a real function if the 'math co-processor' is present (hahaha). Just think - have a int be a int on any machine and know it's limitations!