(* func)(fred, bert)

[Sidney Markowitz]

In article <1736 at l.cc.purdue.edu> cik at l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
>To get 100% portable code, it is necessary to be absolutely sure that
>the same results occur in all installations.  For C, this would mean
>that all arithmetic be integer arithmetic, [...etc. ...]

Real programs have a purpose, and 100% portable code merely has to
achieve that purpose on any system for which the purpose makes sense.
But that should be obvious, as should be the usefulness of a set of
standards that makes it easier for programmers to get their programs
to run on multiple systems.

>Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907

Maybe these notions of practicality are unfamiliar to one in the
rarified world of academic mathematics.

-- sidney markowitz <sidney at saturn.ucsc.edu>