6 char externs and the ANSI standard

[Chris Torek]

*	From: chuqui at nsc.UUCP (Zonker T. Chuqui)

	But look at reality for a second.  there are many, many, MANY
	systems out there with this (or similar) restrictions [short
	external names] inbred into the system software. Manufacturers
	who would want to implement a standard C compiler would have to
	change ALL of their software to meet that standard. For example,
	the DEC people would not only have to change/'fix' vax-11C, but
	cobol, pascal, fortran, bliss, logo, smalltalk, euclid, macro,
	and the kitchen sink.

Wait a minute.  First of all, doesn't VMS support 31-character names?
But more important, no one would have to change ALL their software to
meet a new standard.  They have lots of options: don't support it (or
the "full" version); write a new linker that can be used with (probably
only with) the C compiler; come up with funny hash/name-translation
schemes, etc.

(By the way, speaking of ``break zoop'' vs ``goto out'' -- when you get
right down to it, it amounts to the same thing, so the ``structuredness''
should be the same, given a reasonable definition (like flowgraph
reducibility).  The ONLY REALLY important thing is how it affects you
humans :-).)
-- 
(This mind accidently left blank.)

In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci (301) 454-7690
UUCP:	{seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!chris
CSNet:	chris at umcp-cs		ARPA:	chris at maryland