typedefs, etc. - (nf)

[ucbesvax.turner at ucbcad.UUCP]

#R:cincy:-116500:ucbesvax:23100005:000:853
ucbesvax!turner    Jan  2 19:20:00 1984

>   /***** ucbesvax:net.unix / unc!UUCP /  8:30 am  Dec 31, 1983*/
>   The idea of a Boolean expression is a part of all procedural languages
>   I'm familiar with, including C, Pascal, and so on.  If the programmer
>   can't understand the idea of a Boolean expression yielding a Boolean
>   value, that's his blind spot, and it will lead to inferior code.
>   --
>   Tim Maroney, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

I wouldn't mind if "a==b" was a Boolean expression--I would be quite happy
with "return (a==b)" if it was really Boolean.  But in C, it's not.  It's
an integer-valued expression.  See K&R, if you don't believe me--there is
no intrinsic Boolean type.

If the compiler can't understand the idea of a Boolean expression, that's
its blind spot.  It does lead to inferior code, at that.
---
Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)