libpw.a

[John F. Haugh II]

In article <1883 at thor.acc.stolaf.edu> mike at mike@stolaf.edu writes:
>I'm the author of GNU grep, and I firmly believe that alloca is Evil.
>Don't use it in new programs!

The idea is wonderful.  Not unlike the goto or middle-tested loops.
It fills an emptiness, but requires some degree of discipline.

>Many people know that Richard strongly advocates the use of alloca.
>But just because Richard uses it in his programs doesn't mean it is
>necessarily a good thing!

It IS a nice concept.  It would be nice if C had better garbage
collection, like LISP.  I always enjoyed SNOBOL and LISP programming
because you use the stuff, then toss it, then use it again.  In C
and others, memory management is a CHORE.

>To repeat: alloca is EVIL.

It doesn't have to be.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                        +-Quote of the Week:-------------------
VoiceNet: (214) 250-3311   Data: -6272  | "When everyone else complies
InterNet: jfh at rpp386.Dallas.TX.US       |  I will too ..."
UucpNet : <backbone>!killer!rpp386!jfh  +-------------------  -- Doug Davis  --