Tentative specification for UNIX Version 7 C

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <1990Oct27.230447.5456 at zoo.toronto.edu> henry at zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>`signed char' is particularly odd, since as far as I know `signed' was
>an X3J11 invention and there were *no* pre-ANSI compilers featuring it.

Actually, there was existing practice here (Whitesmiths).

I agree with your comments about the impracticality of attempting to
define a "UNIX Version 7 C standard".  Having maintained versions of
BOTH 7th Edition UNIX C compilers, I can add that even the genuine
article came in two not entirely equivalent flavors.  X3J11 took the
UNIX C reference manual (essentially an update to K&R 1st Edition
Appendix A) as the language base document for the eventual C standard.
Changes and additions made during this process were the result of
trying to accommodate important real-world concerns that any such
standard should have addressed.  Anyone who thinks that he can do
better working on his own must be woefully ignorant of the issues
involved.  A large number of the world's most experienced experts in
the use and implementation of the C programming language have finally
produced the first genuine, officially sanctioned standard for C; use
it and be happy.