Reserved names in ANSI C

[Stephen J. Friedl]

In article <547 at cybaswan.UUCP>, iiit-sh at cybaswan.UUCP (Steve Hosgood) writes:
> 
> Yeah, but though you may be able to use more, a 'strictly conforming' program
> can't, otherwise it won't port to sites with 6-character linkers. In other
> words 6 characters *is* the real limit.

This kind of thing comes up a lot, and it brings up a question I've
had in my mind: how many real programs will *really* be strictly
conforming?  Almost all real programs will have to use libraries
(say, Xwin or curses or networking or Informix) that will make the
program not strictly conforming.

Second, there is a limit to how far we will go in the name of
portability, and in many environments there is a good benefit
in not being saddled with a six-character limit.  Yes, these
programs are not portable, but it is straightforward enough to
make up a file with #defines that map longnames to shortnames.

How many people have the six-char limit foremost in their minds?
How about those who never have to deal with these machines?

     Steve

P.S. - Besides, my customer's programmers would laugh at me if I
       insisted that they worried about the 6-char limit.  They think
       I'm academic enough as it is :-(.
-- 
Stephen J. Friedl / V-Systems, Inc. / Santa Ana, CA / +1 714 545 6442 
3B2-kind-of-guy   / friedl at vsi.com  / {attmail, uunet, etc}!vsi!friedl
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