Subj : Re: Do all programming languages use files? To : comp.programming From : mwojcik Date : Wed Aug 31 2005 05:08 pm In article , Scott Moore writes: > Scott Moore wrote: > > > From K&R "The C programming language" the introduction: > > > > "C itself provides no input/output facillities; there are no READ or WRITE > > statements, no built-in file access methods". > > > > These guys WROTE the language. Ritchie wrote the original C language. That has been superceded by the ISO standard C language. And K&R never defined the language; prior to standardization, it was defined by extant implementations. > > Have we pounded this into the ground yet ? Apparently not, since you still haven't learned anything. > I'm not trying to beat you up here. Good, as you're not succeeding. > I am trying to make you realize that language > designers don't consider libraries to be part of the language itself. Since that's a falsehood, at least in the case of C, I think we'll pass. (I'm curious to know what leads you to believe it's true of "language designers" in general. How many of them have you queried on the subject?) > The library is a support system, like a linker or loader. That's an even more ridiculous notion than your original thesis. > The language itself has several properties that are distinct from libraries: > > 1. The language is parsed. Whereas libraries spring forth wholly formed from Zeus' forehead? > 2. The language is expressed in the BNF. There is no standard BNF representation of the C language. There is a formal grammar for part (not all) of the language, but it does not use BNF notation. If you claim the grammar in the standard covers the entire language, please cite the passage which supports this. > 3. A language feature that is part of the language is handled in the > compiler itself, vs. the linker. Chapter and verse, please. Apparently you are unable to comprehend the fact that *you* do not determine what defines the C language. -- Michael Wojcik michael.wojcik@microfocus.com Against all odds, over a noisy telephone line, tapped by the tax authorities and the secret police, Alice will happily attempt, with someone she doesn't trust, whom she can't hear clearly, and who is probably someone else, to fiddle her tax return and to organise a coup d'etat, while at the same time minimising the cost of the phone call. -- John Gordon .