Obfuscated C

[Landon Noll]

In article woody at juliet.caltech.edu (William E. Woody) writes:
 >  I Like C to be reasonably easy to learn _and_ extremely powerful, as well.
 >But if we tack on new commands and operators at will, then everyone's program
 >will be a winner in the Obfuscated C contest!
 >
 >         - William Woody

I agree.  Most suggestions of "new-and-improved" C features try to make
C into some other language.  I was glad to see Ansi-C standard drafts
did not go Hog-wild (as in J. Poornelly C) with features, though some
of them go too far.

When you want to add something to C, ask yourself:  Does the power I
gain justify the additional complexity of the compiler?  Does it break
existing C programs?  Does it add something that was not already there
in another form?

Last, consider what this "new" feature will do to the complexity of C
source.  Consider the potential abuse of the "feature".  If 1986's
entries any any judge, we nearly have enough of these problems already...

chongo  <CONTEST ENDS MAY 30!  HAVE YOU SENT IN YOUR ENTRY?>  /\cc/\