9 May
2005
9 May
'05
9:37 a.m.
>>>> "Kevin" == Kevin Handy
<kth at srv.net> writes:
Kevin> I think that C really needs to have a stack to be useful:
Kevin> recursive calls, pass by (alterable) value, multiple levels of
Kevin> local variables, etc. At least it is much easier to implement
Kevin> if you have a stack.
Kevin> Does there exist a good C compiler for any machine lacking a
Kevin> stack?
There is no "machine lacking a stack".
There are plenty of machines that don't have a "hardware stack" or
stack-oriented instructions, or stack-oriented addressing modes. The
Cyber, IBM S/360 and its successors, many (perhaps all) DSPs, etc. all
come to mind.
But on such machines, creating a stack is just a trivial programming
exercise, and C compilers of course do just that. There's a GCC for
the S/390, just to name one example.
paul