Explanation of "Case-sensitive"

[Jeffrey Kuskin]

I didn't realize this would lead to so much debate ...

What I meant by "Why is C case-sensitive" is *NOT* "Why do C compilers
accept mixed-case source files as input, as opposed to requiring single-case
(all upper case, say) source files"  A compiler in this day and age which
required single-case source files would (I hope) be considered
badly outdated.

What I *DID* mean is:  "Why does the C language specify that keywords,
identifiers, etc. be distinguished by case as well as by spelling."

A quick example will clarify:

In Pascal (a case-insensitive language by my definition), "myVar := 2"
is the same as "mYvAR := 2"

In C, of course, "myVar = 2" is not the same as "mYvAR = 2"; "myVar" and
"mYvAR" are 2 distinct variables because they differ in case, even though
they are spelled identically.

Why was C specified this way?  A case-insensitive language puts no
restrictions on source-file formatting:  symbolic constants can be
all upper case, variables all lower case, functions mixed-case, etc.
The only difference comes at compile time when silly errors (IMHO)
such as "mYvAR not declared" start to appear (when you *have* declared
"myVar").

-- Jeff Kuskin, Dartmouth College

EMAIL:  jskuskin at eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU