C strings suck!

[utzoo!decvax!genrad!linus!allegra!eagle!karn]

I have to strongly second the comments about keeping I/O out of the
C language.  This was indeed a stroke of genius which contributed
greatly to the portability of the language.

Even "simple" extensions cause tidal waves when you consider all of the
many different compiler implementations (under control of many different
vendors) that would have to be changed to maintain complete portability.
Example: how many of you use enumerated data types and structure passing
on a regular basis?  I had a brief fling with those features when they
first came out, but after getting burned by both (portability across
compiler releases with enums, portability and performance with structure
passing) I've given them up; they're not worth it.  And those are SIMPLE
changes!

If you're hopelessly in love with certain non-C language features, then I
would strongly recommend the pre-processor approach.  At least in theory
you can mix and match the preprocessor with your favorite machine
and compiler.

Phil