In defense of C

[phil at unisoft.UUCP]

>> The comments concerning non-automatic reuse of automatic variables with
>> nonoverlapping domains reminded me that one can reuse register variables.
>> I don't know if this applies to non-register automatics and would be
>> interested in finding out.  One can create blocks, as in ALGOL, with curly
>> braces, in which registers are re-used, according to what I have seen in
>> PDP assembly translation of C .......

Well, I wouldn't count on it. Remember that register storage class is more
of an advisory, any C compiler is free to ignore it at any time. Some
C compilers will allocate ALL the auto storage class at once upon entering
the function. The VAX 4.1 BSD C compiler (as far as I can see) allocates
all the required auto storage class upon entry.