fopen ( ..., "a" ) --- how does the "a" work?

[Peter da Silva]

Names removed to protect the guilty.

a>On a single-user non-multitasking system, a better implementation would
a>be to seek to the end only on the initial open, not for each write.

b>But what if the single-user non-multitasking system is networked to
b>a shared filesystem and you would like your log files to work?

a>Suggest you look up "system" in a decent engineering textbook.
a>You described a system that doesn't fit my qualifiers.

b>I fail to see how providing each user-level process with its own CPU
b>and i/o facilities would break anyone's concept of a "system".

Now it's not a single-user non-multitasking system. That is, you didn't
fit his qualifiers. Like he said.

Now for something completely different:

b>Do you mean that all filesystem clients and servers must maintain state
b>information to be worthy of being called a "system"?

Well, it's a quality of information issue. But I agree with P1003.1 on
this one... stateless NFA isn't acceptable.
-- 
`-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. <peter at ficc.uu.net>.
 'U`  Also <peter at ficc.lonestar.org> or <peter at sugar.lonestar.org>.
"It was just dumb luck that Unix managed to break through the Stupidity Barrier
and become popular in spite of its inherent elegance." -- gavin at krypton.sgi.com