On 05/10/2011 18:05, JMGross wrote: > > > > > ----- Ursprüngliche Nachricht ----- > Von: David Brown > Gesendet am: 04 Okt 2011 16:22:18 > >> On 04/10/2011 15:59, Peter Bigot wrote: > >>> The words "stack" and "heap" do not appear in the C standard. There >>> is only static and automatic storage duration.[...] >>> JM's answer is relevant for somebody who could encounter more unusual >>> architectures. > >> However, the original question was from someone who knew very little >> about how memory is organised in C - I don't think it helps to talk >> about how it works on a poor-quality pseudo-C compiler for a very >> limited processor. Almost all C compilers, including mspgcc, organise >> their memory in the same way, so I think it is fair to consider that the >> "generic" answer and leave it there. > > Surely, the most usual answer is what usually answers most. > However, I don't appreciate the approach to tell only the necessary and leave > people under the impression that this is the oen and only thruth (unless it > really is). > So giving an (apparently) authoritative answer that only fits for 99%, will > bring > these people in trouble if they encounter the remaining 1%. >
I can appreciate that, and I generally like to give complete answers myself (or at least mention that the answer given is incomplete). My point was not that the stack, heap and registers are the only way to organise memory in C - merely that the stack, heap and registers is a perfectly good, valid generic answer. Any other implementation is a rarity, usually due to limitations of the underlying hardware. It's just a difference of emphasis, really. > Just like the idea that you need to have sex to get pregnant. Correct for the > very > most occurrences but not for all. And not knowing that there are exceptions to > the rule makes you more prone to be avictim of these exceptions. > Perhaps I don't get out of the office enough, but I can't think how one could get accidentally pregnant without sex! This makes it a close analogy - if you "do the usual thing" with C programming, using proper processors with proper C compilers, then the generic answer is perfectly sufficient. You will only meet exceptions to the stack, heap, registers arrangement if you go out of your way to use outdated microcontrollers with expensive non-standard tools and choose to delve into the technical details of them. >> On re-reading what I wrote, the tone of my reply was perhaps a bit >> crass, however - and for that I apologise. > > I didn't take it as offense. > > As for the PIC: I don't like it, never liked it and I'm happy that I never > had to do > a project with it. All I had to do (and that was enough) was some bugfixing on > existing projects and migrating two PIC projects to the MSP430F1232. > That was enough for my lifetime. > I've only programmed them in assembly. It was fun, in a perverse sort of way. > Anyway, it makes no difference whether PIC means "programmable interrupt > controller" or > "peripheral interface controller". It is programmable and of peripheral > usesfulness only. > It has one interrupt and has one interface (at least the earlier series). > And it is no processor at all. > > However, looking at acronym finder > http://www.acronymfinder.com/Information-Technology/PIC.html > the programmable interrupt controller comes out first, the peripheral > interface controller > is only third place :) > But you're right, the Microchip acronym officially means the second. Yet the > first definition > is much older and I'm pretty sure it was the source when Microchip picked > their name. > Well, "Programmable Interrupt Controller" is a particular type of peripheral device - either as a standalone chip (especially the 8259A from PC's) or as an integrated peripheral within a microcontroller. The Microchip PIC is totally different, and was not named after these devices - the chips had nothing to do with interrupts. The PIC name used by Microchip was an abbreviation for "Peripheral Interface Controller", because that's what the architecture was first used for. Not that it really matters much, except to pendants like me... mvh., David ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All the data continuously generated in your IT infrastructure contains a definitive record of customers, application performance, security threats, fraudulent activity and more. Splunk takes this data and makes sense of it. Business sense. IT sense. Common sense. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2dcopy1 _______________________________________________ Mspgcc-users mailing list Mspgcc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mspgcc-users
