C question

[Bill Price]

> > I don't have the original article handy, but it almost looks like someone
> > was trying to perform the illegal:
> > 	function p(var i:integer):integer;
> > I pray that somewhere there isn't a compiler which would accept that. 
> > (Ooh, ick!)
> Say what?  It is completely legal in Pascal to pass var parameters to a
> function!  I PRAY all pascal compilers out there will accept this!!
> -Johnathan A. Tainter

ANSI, IEEE, ISO, and others have published the definition of Pascal:  it's
titled, for example, "American National Standard Pascal Computer
Programming Language."  According to this definition, one of the
requirements of a Pascal compiler is that it accepts the Pascal
language--that's so obvious that it's often overlooked.  One of the
features of the Pascal language is the ability of a function to have
variable parameters.

The bottom line of that paragraph is the trivial conclusion that:

A compiler which does not accept a function declaration with a variable
parameter is not a Pascal compiler, regardless of the name of the compiler,
and regardless of any claims by the compiler writer or vendor.

"How many legs does a donkey have if you call its tail a leg?"

"One--calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."

			--A. Lincoln


--Bill Price
-- 
--Bill Price  uucp:  {Most Anybody}!sdcsvax!bmcg!bprice
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