MRC%PANDA@SUMEX-AIM.Stanford.EDU (04/13/87)
I think it's a bad idea to eliminate the 6-character identifier rule. A compiler/linker pair can, as an extension, allow longer identifiers, but use of such identifiers *does* sacrifice portability. I have had the distinct non-pleasure of having to port code to a 6-character identifier compiler/linker environment. It was no fun at all. [To be fair, I should point out that the linker in question, the DEC-20 linker, does allow long identifiers. Unfortunately, the C compiler generates assembly language source files, not linker binaries, and the assembler has the 6-character limit.] -------