Introduction

With the introduction of new devices and extended character sets, new features may be added to this International Standard. Subclauses in the language and library clauses warn implementors and programmers of usages which, though valid in themselves, may conflict with future additions.

Certain features are obsolescent, which means that they may be considered for withdrawal in future revisions of this International Standard. They are retained because of their widespread use, but their use in new implementations (for implementation features) or new programs (for language [6.9] or library features [7.13]) is discouraged.

This International Standard is divided into four major subdivisions:

the introduction and preliminary elements;
the characteristics of environments that translate and execute C programs;
the language syntax, constraints, and semantics;
the library facilities;

Examples are provided to illustrate possible forms of the constructions described. Footnotes are provided to emphasize consequences of the rules described in that subclause or elsewhere in this International Standard. References are used to refer to other related subclauses. A set of annexes summarizes information contained in this International Standard. The introduction, the examples, the footnotes, the references, and the annexes are not part of this International Standard.

The language clause (clause 7) is derived from "The C Reference Manual" (see annex A).

The library clause (clause 8) is bases on the 1984 /usr/group Standard (see annex A).

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This document is based on an article in comp.std.c by Larry Weiss <lfw@oc.com>.