Targeting C for dedicated processors

[Ray Lubinsky]

> >Any implementation of C that doesn't provide redirection and command-line
> >argument passing is half-assed at best.
:
> The above comment implies that a computer that doesn't have command
> lines and files "is half-assed at best".  Most of the computers one uses
> do not have these features.  For example, the computer in my VCR, my
> terminal, my microwave, my thermostat, etc.  I would be willing to bet
> that none of these is currently programmed in C, but it would be
> possible for C to be used.
> -- 
>     Barry Margolin

No, I don't think that the above statement has any implication about machines;
just implementations of C.  Should we pare the language so it will fit the
lowest-common-denominator system?  I hope not; I program for time-sharing
systems.  I've never written a microwave oven controller.

And if you are developing oven controllers on time-sharing system (certainly
you're not going to develop them directly on the chip), do you really want a C
compiler that breaks on almost every other program written?

It's one thing to avoid using features of C and its usual libraries for the
sake of a specific application, but it's another to kludge them back in if
they're not there.
-- 

Ray Lubinsky		   University of Virginia, Dept. of Computer Science
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