Re: qsort and arbitrary types

From: Richard Maine (nospam_at_see.signature)
Date: 06/09/04 

Date: 09 Jun 2004 14:01:29 -0700

Janne Blomqvist <jblomqvi@roskaposti.invalid> writes:

> ...Fortran uses pass by reference...

Knee-jerk reaction, but, to repeat what I and others have said
many times before....

This has never been specified in the standard. It is a (very)
common implementation method, but has never been universal;
there have long been exceptions.

With newer features and compilers, the exceptions are becoming less
and less exceptional. Some new features are pretty much impossible to
implement with pass by reference. Even for old features, things like
copy-in/copy-out are sometimes used by modern optimizers.

I recommend against programming based on the assumption that arguments
will be passed by reference. It certainly doesn't seem like an
assumption that will leave you well prepared for the future... or
even some parts of the present. 

-- 
Richard Maine                       |  Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain  |  experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov              |        -- Mark Twain

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