CompuServe Messages

The point I'm making is that you have to teach what works if the student is going to write code that has to run. If what the manual says differs with how the compiler works, you have to teach the compiler. What choice do you have? The code has to run. Of course, you should always teach that things can change. With C we have an easy road now. Build an exercise that complies with the standard and make sure it works on two or three conforming compilers. I don't know what you mean by "lack of influence." Dennis Ritchie says he kept out of X3J11 because he did not want to commit the time and effort. That's his official reason. I suspect that privately he also did not want to get embedded in the inevitable committee dynamics and politics. But he kept watch. When the committee was about to make a really dumb move, he stepped in and voiced a strong opinion, which they heeded. Al Stevens