6 char externs and the ANSI standard

[mike at RICE.ARPA]

From:  Mike Caplinger <mike at RICE.ARPA>

I can't believe that anyone is seriously debating this.  Come on!  It's
1984!  The only reason variable names were ever limited to any
particular length is because linker writers in the 1960s and 70s were
sleazes.  How long are we going to pay that price?  How long are we
going to look at object modules as 80-column card images ala OS/360?

Please, please!  Don't put a limit on external identifiers!  I
guarantee you that at best it will just cause a flurry of "standard
extensions".  If C is to become portable, don't make it conform to the
lowest common denominator.  That's what has killed every other ANSI
language standard.  For example, when was the last time you wrote a
program in ANSI PL/I?  And nobody around here writes in Fortran 77
because X3J3 couldn't decide on the syntax of the WHILE loop!

I just hope somebody who makes a difference actually reads this list.

	Mike Caplinger
	Computer Science Department, Rice University