non-binary, non-ASCII, non-8-bit character machines.
C _can_ do that; [...]
Really? I've never seen a C defined for an
architecture that lacks
simple Boolean operations--[...]
Hm, yes, I read too fast. Non-binary is difficult, probably to the
point where it's not worth the bother. It would need, at a minimum,
the assistance of runtime conversion to and from something
operationally equivalent to binary. I'm not sure even that is enough;
the assumption of everything being made up of bits is wired very deeply
into modern C - and to a nontrivial extent into even K&R C. But it
might be possible. It certainly would be possible by building an
emulator for a binary machine, but that's a very not-in-the-spirit-of-C
thing to do - it would feel more C-like to throw out the binary
requirements in C's spec and implement a not-quite-C that actually
matched the hardware.
The attempt would certainly be a fascinating exercise.
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