23 Jan
2020
23 Jan
'20
8:31 p.m.
BTW: Not to bring up a new rat hole/new argument, but rather remind people
of one of the arguments of the day. Because of SP or no SP style of
calling, in those days the question came out language design of how the
stack or register call area was maintained: Was it/should it be the
responsibility of the calling routine or the called subroutine. Things
like Fortran's entry statement and other non-local goto's,
co-routines/setjmp/longjmp added fuel to the fire in the argument.
As a language designer/implementor at the time, someone like Steve Johnson
and Doug McIlroy were undoubtedly mixed up in the argument and had
opinions. I was certainly too inexperienced then to understand what the
fight was about. But I do remember the fight and how the issues were
taught/discussed at CMU when I was a student. I admit I was quickly sucked
into C's way of handling things, as it seemed simple/clear/understandable
to me, but not being a language person I probably did not (maybe still do
not) value some the arguments for the other side.
Clem