stdout (was What "isatty"?)

[Rahul Dhesi]

In article <17796 at mimsy.UUCP> chris at mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
>As you can see by the `:-)' sign, Jimmy C. is kidding.  But there is
>much truth in this.  The C compiler should write to stdout, unless
>there is some overriding reason that it cannot...

I can think of a moderately overriding reason that it should not.
Generalizing:

     Programs should write to stdout when their output would make sense
     on a computer terminal, or when their output is likely to be
     redirected elsewhere and used properly.  Programs that seek are an
     exception.

Unfortunately, cc's output will put most terminals in a funny state,
and cc is often invoked interactively.

But "cc -o -" should write to stdout.
-- 
Rahul Dhesi <dhesi at bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
UUCP:    ...!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!dhesi
Career change search is on -- ask me for my resume