[Ffmpeg-devel] [PATCH] Correct inttypes.h emulation for Visual Studio

[Diego Biurrun]

On Mon, Dec 04, 2006 at 01:44:22PM +0100, Stefan Heinzmann wrote:
> --- Diego Biurrun <diego at biurrun.de> wrote:
> 
> M?ns' opinion: "int64_t etc are not "Unix" types, they're
> standard C types. So it's not a difference between Unix and
> Windows, but a difference between C and Microsoft's so-called
> "C" compilers which do not quite support C." is an example of
> his bias. C89 compilers have not suddenly stopped being C
> compilers the moment C99 was issued.

Either you misunderstood what was said or you are biased yourself.
The statement

  int64_t etc are "Unix" types, they're standard C types.

is correct.  You could argue that they are C99 types and not C89 types
and you will be right, but this is besides the point.  The point is that
the types come from a clearly defined standard and are not in any way
related to Unix.  Presenting them as "Unix" types in the MSDN document
that was linked to is (deliberately?) misleading.

> > Portable programming is not accumulating special cases for every
> > imaginable combination of CPU architecture, operating system and
> > development environment.
> 
> Certainly not. Portable programming is about supporting a
> relevant subset of all those combinations.

IMO portable programming is programming towards a set of clearly defined
standards.

> In open source projects, I am used to the idea of having the user
> base decide on what is included in this subset, and not a more or
> less arbitrary collection of principles deemed beyond discussion by a
> particular group of people.

That "particular group of people" is the developers and it would indeed
be a strange open source project that is not governed by its developers.
It is a misconception that users take technical decisions in open source
projects.  The way that you speak of "arbitrary collection of principles"
and a "particular group of people" could easily be interpreted in an
offensive fashion.  In any case, it betrays your point of view ...

Diego

P.S.: The quoting of your mail client sucks.