Re: [avr-gcc-list] WinAvr 2005... compile problems

[Dave Hansen]

From: David Kelly <address@hidden>

> On Mar 7, 2005, at 6:39 PM, Gary Griswold wrote:
> >  
> > Let me say that again:  MAKE IS NOW CASE-SENSITIVE!
> >  
> > Is it to be that way from now on???
>
> I hope so, as that is the way things should be. The compiler is case 
> sensitive to value names. It and its supporting tools should be sensitive 
> to file names.

Sorry, but this is wrong.

"UN*X does it this way" is _not_ equivalent to "This is the way it should 
be" any more than "Windoze does it this way" is.  Case-sensitive file names 
are an abomination, just as are spaces within file names, and for many of 
the same reasons.  Just as the fact that "make" treats tab characters 
differently than spaces, and worse, requires them to function correctly.

[...]
> Oh, and some files were named FileName.C, which in Unix is a C++ file.

Case in point.  This is heinous, and almost unforgivable.  Case sensitivity 
in C is a completely separate issue.  It is not nearly so egregious a 
mistake.  But almost nobody would miss it if it were gone.  And anyone who 
would create two symbols within a C program that could be used within the 
same context that differ only by the case of some characters would rightly 
be ridiculed.  That foo.c and Foo.C designate not only different files, but 
invoke different compilers is ludicrous.  It is hard to imagine how someone 
could cause more confusion if he tried.

These were _mistakes_.  They make programming (and life for programmers) 
more difficult than they would otherwise have to be.  We're stuck with them. 
 But that does not make them right.

</rant>

Regards,
  -=Dave