STDARG.H (va_arg stuff) ineffective

[Chris Torek]

In article <1077 at ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov> raymond at ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov
(Eric A. Raymond) writes:
>The variable argument facility as provided by STDARG.H (in the ANSI
>standard?) appears to have a severe limitation. ... there is no way
>to know when you have reached the end of [the optional argument] list.

We have had this flamefest before, and all that ever comes of it is
`that is how it has always been'.

>Possible solutions require compiler support: 
> - Construct a real list such that the end of the list is nonambiguous
> - Pass a count of the args such that a va_arg will decrement it and a
>   predicate (i.e. va_argp()) to test whether args are left.

The first solution is preferable for monotonic argument lists.  As for
the second, consider the following example:

	f(int fixedarg, ...) {
		va_list ap;
		va_start(ap);
		<code>
	}

	<more code>
		f(17, "here is a string", 95, 1.41421356);
		f(44, &some_integer, 3.14159265358979, 2);

Both invocations to f() have four arguments.  va_argp() or va_nargs()
or . . . will thus indicate four arguments for both calls.  That
means both calls are to be handled identically?  Nope.

The *number* of variable arguments is NOT sufficient information;
you need also the *types* of the arguments.

(If you want &rest, you know where to find it.  Many compiled lisps
are competitive with compiled C for speed, at least until you GC.)

>This appears to have the same philosophical roots as passing arguments
>by reference in C.  That is, in order to acheive X, both the caller
>and callee must have have similar explicit notations.  I call this the "write
>it in two places" syndrome.  This is also manifest in the header
>file/source file redundancies (where you must maintain two files with
>essentially the same (subset) information.  Flame and I'll explain.
>(but this is a seperate issue).

It is indeed.  Note, however, that natural languages also have
redundancies; a limited amount of redundancy improves clarity by
providing reassurance.  Mechanical anaysis (lint) can verify that the
duplicate information matches, while for the programmer, the notation
at either the call site or the callee provides information about the
number and types of arguments.  (Personally, I hate the `feature'
that Pascal subroutines can modify parameters by declaring them
`var' in a file I never see.  But then I think arrays should be
passed by value :-) .)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris at mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris