Infrequently asked questions

[Richard]

(e-mail address removed) said:

jacob navia wrote:

{political stuff]

Why post that here?

I believe it is almost a "tradition" for nerds to promote political
views via strictly technical channels.

Not the bright ones, I hope.

I just recently browsed
http://www.linuxhq.org/ and received this:

McCain is a moron.

This isn't overly informative. Who is McCain? (I know some people will
think I'm being disingenuous, but I'm not - as far as I'm aware, McCain is
a brand of oven chip.) And is the word "moron" a medical description from
a qualified professional, or just a petty insult?

Disingenuous? No. You are being less than honest and preening that you
have more important things to do than follow the global news. No change
there then!

 

[Ian Collins]

Ian Collins said:


New Zealand troops took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Still, it was a good try!

No, we did not. You're thinking of our brash neighbour.

 

[jacob navia]

No, we did not. You're thinking of our brash neighbour.

That is not true.

61 troops were deployed Sept 2003 and withdrawn
Sept 2004 according to the wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_force_in_Iraq

Besides look at this:
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/21332.htm


New Zealand: Assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan

The United States warmly welcomes the New Zealand government's decision
to expand its contribution to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, and
to make a meaningful contribution to stabilization and reconstruction in
Iraq. New Zealand has also demonstrated that its commitment as a partner
in the struggle against terrorism is strong and abiding.

The United States deeply appreciates New Zealand's continuing support
for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, where New Zealand has now
agreed to contribute to, and possibly lead, a Provincial Reconstruction
Team and offer personnel to help train the Afghan National Army. New
Zealand's offer of an engineering unit to be attached to the UK-led
multinational division in Iraq is particularly welcome and very much
appreciated. New Zealand is also offering to supply agricultural experts
and US$580,000 in support of efforts by the Coalition Provisional
Authority to rehabilitate the Iraqi agricultural sector.
Released on June 9, 2003

 

[Ian Collins]

Ian Collins wrote:

That is not true.

61 troops were deployed Sept 2003 and withdrawn
Sept 2004 according to the wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_force_in_Iraq

That was post invasion, NZ did not participate in any fighting. The
government wouldn't have survived if they did.

 

[Pilcrow]

Ian Collins said:

jacob navia wrote:
Ian Collins wrote:
jacob navia wrote:

{political stuff]

Why post that here?

Why?

See question 8:

If day after day goes by with nobody discussing uncomfortable questions
like these, won't the good people of my country be guilty of making
things worse?

This is an international forum. Most of the questions are irrelevant
for those of us living in small, peaceful democratic nations who have
never invaded anyone.

I'm struggling to think of a single example of a small, peaceful democratic
nation that never invaded anyone.

Try New Zealand.

The english invaded the territory of the maoris, conquered it and
renamed it New Zealand

 

[James Kuyper]

Richard Heathfield wrote:
....

What is to stop ISO from breaking an implementation by redefining the
meaning of an identfier in the implementation's reserved space?

As I understand it, nothing. When a new version of C comes out that
needs to define a new identifier, the committee has two basic choices:
use a name reserved to the user, which may require re-writing existing
user code, or use a name reserved to the implementation, which may
require re-writing existing compilers. The namespace reserved to the C
standard itself is too small; basically it consists of the names
reserved under the future directions clause, plus the pragmas that start
with STDC.

Since most compilers need to be re-written to conform to a new version
of C anyway, and since there's a lot fewer compilers than there are C
programs, the committee has generally favored grabbing a name from the
space reserved to implementations.

Can an implementer provide strdup (say), as a valid and legal extension? If
so, can ISO? And if the answer to both questions is "yes", what's to stop
ISO from screwing an implementer by defining a new meaning for the
identifier in question?

Clearly, the real answer is "nothing" - snprintf being a fine example. But
is this what ISO intended?

I think so.

 

[James Kuyper]

(e-mail address removed) said:

jacob navia wrote:

{political stuff]

Why post that here?

I believe it is almost a "tradition" for nerds to promote political
views via strictly technical channels.

Not the bright ones, I hope.

Intelligence is not the same as wisdom. Very bright people have often
made some very unwise decisions.

I just recently browsed
http://www.linuxhq.org/ and received this:

McCain is a moron.

This isn't overly informative. Who is McCain? (I know some people will
think I'm being disingenuous, but I'm not - as far as I'm aware, McCain is
a brand of oven chip.) ...

You'll have to count me as one of those who think you're being
disingenuous. I've no particular interest in British politics, and pay
no attention to it, but just by osmosis I would have no trouble
recognizing the name of any person whose importance in British politics
were comparable to the importance of McCain in American politics. I
wouldn't necessarily be able to give you the person's name, but I would
be able to recognize it.

... And is the word "moron" a medical description from
a qualified professional, or just a petty insult?

The latter, of course. He has many faults, but stupidity isn't one them.

 

[Dik T. Winter]

> Richard Heathfield wrote: ....
>
> You'll have to count me as one of those who think you're being
> disingenuous. I've no particular interest in British politics, and pay
> no attention to it, but just by osmosis I would have no trouble
> recognizing the name of any person whose importance in British politics
> were comparable to the importance of McCain in American politics.

Also when the name would be Heinz? Note that McCain is indeed a dominant
name in the food industry in the UK: <http://www.mccain.co.uk>.

But let me try it: Howard or Cameron...

 

[Keith Thompson]

Ian Collins said:

No, we did not. You're thinking of our brash neighbour.

Well, okay, maybe I'm wrong. Let's try to find out. According to [...]
Anyway, I really should stop here, for all sorts of reasons.

Or perhaps you should have stopped a lot sooner.

You have both been successfully trolled.

 

[Keith Thompson]

I'm still puzzled as to why this is being discussed in comp.lang.c, though.

Partly, Richard, because *you* keep discussing it. jacob navia is of
course primarily at fault, but your insistence on replying *on the
topic he introduced* has helped to perpetuate this thread.

 

[Nick Keighley]

The Standard often talks about "reserved" identifiers. For the sake of an
easy life, let's stick to the C99 Standard, since it seems that few of us
(including me) have a copy of the finalised C89 Standard.

me! me! I've got one!

 

[Flash Gordon]

Nick Keighley wrote, On 16/10/08 07:57:

[Knuth] might have written interesting books on Coral 66 as well,

I find it vanishingly unlikely that *anyone* could
write an interesting book on Coral 66. I suppose BITS
and TABLE were pretty cool. Oh, and UNION and DIFFER and MASK.
And CODE BEGIN!

Damn, someone else here has come across the language. I'll have to find
something more obscure...

stop it.

Agreed.

 

[Richard Bos]

Also when the name would be Heinz? Note that McCain is indeed a dominant
name in the food industry in the UK: <http://www.mccain.co.uk>.

So is Heinz. And both are also well-known names in USA politics; _and_,
something not many people appear to realise, the Heinzes in politics are
related to the ketchup (and some might say that the difference between
the two industries is slight anyway; both are distasteful and over-
paid). As for McCain, reports about his relation to the oven chips vary.

But let me try it: Howard

Hey, this was about the UK, not about has-been Ozzie racists.

or Cameron...

He won't be as important as McCain until there is an election. Which
there won't be until about four years from now.

C? I suppose Cain and Cameron both start with C. As does Corruption.

Richard

 

[Dik T. Winter]

> Richard Bos said:
>
> Michael Howard was the leader of the UK-based Conservative and Unionist
> Party ("the Tories") for a short while near the beginning of this
> millennium. He has held a number of Cabinet posts, including that of Home
> Secretary. He steered the "Poll Tax" legislation through Parliament,
> (unwittingly) sowing the seeds for Margaret Thatcher's downfall.

And he lost the 2005 elections (although he won quite a few seats). Three
years later he appears to be nearly forgotten. Who will remember McCain
in three years?

 

[James Kuyper]

And he lost the 2005 elections (although he won quite a few seats). Three
years later he appears to be nearly forgotten. Who will remember McCain
in three years?

Don't count McCain out just yet; he still has better chance of winning
than I'd like. Even if he loses, McCain was well known nationwide before
this election campaign, and I expect him to remain so for a long time
afterward.

This has been a rather unusual presidential campaign for the US, in many
ways, and one of those ways is that both major parties nominated people
for president or vice president who were well-known nationwide before
the campaign; Palin is the only exception. Usually, neither party does
so. Two of them (McCain, and to a lesser extent, Biden) were well-known
nationwide even before the last presidential election.

 

[Barry Schwarz]

Dik T. Winter said:



John West.

(Beat that for referential obscurity.)

I see your referential obscurity and raise you a non sequitur.
Phenylpiruvic oligrophenia is a genetic metabolic disorder that is
frequently misdiagnosed as congenital aphasia. The resulting invalid
prognosis and mistreatment is often emotionally and financially
devastating for the parents. And you can bring this entire discussion
back on topic by nitpicking my spelling which is probably incorrect.

We can't stop the trolls from posting but what is this pathological
need to keep the thread alive and try to get the last word in.

 

[Kenny McCormack]

I see your referential obscurity and raise you a non sequitur.
Phenylpiruvic oligrophenia is a genetic metabolic disorder that is
frequently misdiagnosed as congenital aphasia. The resulting invalid
prognosis and mistreatment is often emotionally and financially
devastating for the parents. And you can bring this entire discussion
back on topic by nitpicking my spelling which is probably incorrect.

We can't stop the trolls from posting but what is this pathological
need to keep the thread alive and try to get the last word in.

This is CLC. This is what we do. Get used to it.

 

[Nick Keighley]

Nick Keighleywrote, On 16/10/08 07:57:

[Knuth] might have written interesting books on Coral 66 as well,

I find it vanishingly unlikely that *anyone* could
write an interesting book on Coral 66. I suppose BITS
and TABLE were pretty cool. Oh, and UNION and DIFFER and MASK.
And CODE BEGIN!

Damn, someone else here has come across the language. I'll have to find
something more obscure...

I did that from memory. And I know unfortunate souls who are
maintaining
programs written in it.

 

[Nick Keighley]

Nick Keighleysaid:

[...] it seems that few
of us (including me) have a copy of the finalised C89 Standard.

me! me! I've got one!

Good for you, but I've just noticed what I wrote. I meant to write "...MOST
of us (including me) DON'T have a copy...".

isn't that logically the same thing?

In case anyone cares, no, I don't have a finalised C90. I do have a rather
tattered draft that I got from Dan Pop's site (it's electronically
tattered - it seems to have a few holes).

it was aquired by rather an arcane route. We bought some obscure
hardware
that came with a C compiler but with no documentation for the compiler
(well, if memory serves me the documentaion was a couple of sides of
A4). So we asked for the documentaion. So they sent us a hardcopy
of the 1989 ANSI C Standard. A bargain I think.

 

[Richard Bos]

And he lost the 2005 elections (although he won quite a few seats). Three
years later he appears to be nearly forgotten.

Don't worry; he will rise again. All it takes is a drop of blood.

Richard