Re: 80286 protected mode

On Wed, 16 Oct 2024 09:38:20 +0200, David Brown
<david.brown@hesbynett.no> wrote:

It's a very good philosophy in programming language design that the core
language should only contain what it has to contain - if a desired
feature can be put in a library and be equally efficient and convenient
to use, then it should be in the standard library, not the core
language.  It is much easier to develop, implement, enhance, adapt, and
otherwise change things in libraries than the core language.
>
And it is also fine, IMHO, that some things in the standard library need
non-standard C - the standard library is part of the implementation.

But it is a problem if the library has to be written using a different
compiler.  [For this purpose I would consider specifying different
compiler flags to be using a different compiler.] 

Why?  Because once these things are discovered, many programmers will
see their advantages and lack the discipline to avoid using them for
more general application work.

In an ideal world, it would be better if we could define `malloc` and
`memmove` efficiently in standard C, but at least they can be
implemented in non-standard C.

 
malloc() used to be std. K&R C--what dropped if from the std ??

>
The function has always been available in C since the language was
standardised, and AFAIK it was in K&R C.  But no one (in authority) ever
claimed it could be implemented purely in standard C.  What do you think
has changed?
>