alloca (was back to the (ivory) tower)

[der Mouse]

In article <16100 at brl-adm.ARPA>, rbj at icst-cmr.arpa (Root Boy Jim) writes:
[Other attributions are Neil Webber <nw at palladium.uucp> and
ted%nmsu.csnet at relay.cs.net, but it's not clear who wrote what.]
> 	   2) function calling conventions -- unless alloca() is
> 	      built into the C compiler it has to implemented as
> 	      a C callable function, not an inline stack adjustment.
> It's hard to figure out exactly what you mean here.

I would imagine that he means more or less what he said.  If alloca()
is not specially known to the compiler (ie, "built in"), it will
compile into a call to a function.  It therefore can't be an inline
stack adjustment.  That's all.  (The function called will wind up
adjusting the stack, yes, but that's not "inline".)

					der Mouse

			uucp: mouse at mcgill-vision.uucp
			arpa: mouse at larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu