raph@tigger.planet.bt.co.uk (Raphael Mankin) (09/14/89)
exspes@gdr.bath.ac.uk (P E Smee) writes: <STUFF DELETED> >(The counter-example people inevitably come up with is 'maybe the >program is meant to be a timing loop'. The tired answer is 'if you >want a time delay, you should tell the operating system to put you to >sleep for some period of time, rather than wasting CPU cycles twiddling >your thumbs. The other users of your multi-user system will thank you >for it.) >-- Not all C programs run on multi-user systems, and not all computers have operating systems or clocks. A large part of my output is for stand-alone processors, the ones that go on modem cards and the like. I HATE timing loops - someone is sure to put in a faster chip without telling me - but sometimes it is the only way to do things. I therefore rely, if I can't avoid it, on the compiler not optimising out 'empty' loops. Raphael Mankin raph@planet.bt.co.uk -- Raphael Mankin raph@planet.bt.co.uk