Re: Why tthe header is not declared ?

Greg Comeau said:

In article <DKCdnYpBhoYd3BjVnZ2dnUVZ_gqdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
Joe Wright <joewwright@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Richard Heathfield wrote:

<snip>


There is more to portability than a lint-free compilation.

Portability of file data among several C implementations and various
hardware platforms cannot be assumed.

Not even across the same implementation (considering compiling iwth
packing off and then again with packing on -- vippstar, these are not
defined by the standard, but that's part of our point).

A propos of not very much, can I just say what a pleasure it is to see Greg
back amongst us?

<snip>

If someone gave you a .DBF file
and didn't tell you its format, what could you possibly do with it?

I'd look the format up (and in fact that's precisely what I did do, under
precisely those circumstances). But yes, the point is well-made. I was
fortunate - the .DBF extension was a faithful indicator of the file's
contents according to the customs of the time (dBase III+), which is by no
means as much a given as some people seem to think. Somewhere or other
I've got a documentation-viewer from way back when, that allows me to read
all my .doc files in a nice comfy way, but it gets real confused if you
hand it an MS Word document file instead.

--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999
.

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