Life after free?

[Tim Bomgardner]

In article <2539 at cirrusl.UUCP>, dhesi%cirrusl at oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
} In <26770 at mimsy.umd.edu> chris at mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek) writes:
}    The compiler is free to, as Ron Natalie once put it, stuff arguments
}    into an envelope and mail them off to the function being called...
}
} This idea has always seemed so quaint, but I wonder if it really works
} for pointers?
}

It does work, altho there is additional overhead.  This is exactly how
remote procedure calls (RPCs) are implemented.  Note that the "envelope"
is usually called a "packet" in this context, and while the compiler
COULD do it, it's usually handled elsewhere (i.e., library procedures
called "stubs").