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- From: buck@drax.gsfc.nasa.gov (Loren (Buck) Buchanan)
-
- In article <739@longway.TIC.COM> From: Doug Gwyn <gwyn@smoke.brl.mil>
- >I DO remember the history of 1003.1; I was there! We most certainly
- >did NOT set out to create a language-independent standard; C was
- >specifically chosen for the obvious reason that it was the SOLE
- >appropriate language for systems-level programming on UNIX, for a
- >variety of reasons, including the fact that the UNIX kernel has a
- >marked preference for being fed C data types.
-
- Sometimes you have to make painful changes, so that the future
- generations will not have to suffer with "historical artifacts".
- This is one place I think the changes should have been made (but
- of course I do not know all of the argumentation, compromises, etc.
- that passed before the committee came to an agreement.
-
- >This "language binding" nonsense was foisted off on P1003 in an
- >attempt to meet ISO guidelines. I think it must have been adopted
- >by ISO as the result of Pascal types insisting that they never have
- >to use any other language.
-
- I take exception to "nonsense was foisted". The reason for language
- bindings is so that various different languages can take advantage
- of the standard. Why should PASCALers, FORTRANers, etc. be coerced
- into giving up their favorite language. I regularly use three
- different langauges, and I expect that the operating environment I
- am working under will not impede my use of these languages.
-
- >Clearly, a BASIC, COBOL, or even LISP binding to 1003.1 would be
- >ludicrous. I don't know how languages are selected for binding,
- >but I do know what constitutes a UNIX system interface, and if a
- >language can support one then that is what it should be given as a
- >1003.1 binding.
-
- Why is it ludicrous, I think all of them should have bindings to POSIX,
- but don't ask me to do the work. If POSIX is to become truly universal,
- then it better support all of them and also RPG II/III, PL/I, Prolog,
- MUMPS, and any other general or special purpose language that is in
- common use. How a language is selected is two part, 1) is there a
- consensus of the committee that the work should be done, and 2) is
- there a fool ... eh ... er ... uh ... volunteer willing to do the
- work of creating and/or being the editor.
-
- I am currently working on the proposed image processing standard, and
- how acceptable do you think this standard would be if we ignored
- FORTRAN?
-
- B Cing U
-
- Buck
-
- --
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