Bill Cunningham

[David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no>]

Hi,

Just a little warning about Bill Cunningham, who has been asking
questions on the gcc-help mailing list.  He is a well-known character
who has been an on and off member of the comp.lang.c Usenet group for
perhaps two decades.  In all that time, he has repeated a pattern of
asking about rather advanced topics in C (such as details of compilers),
while demonstrating that he has almost no understanding of the language.
 He claims to want to learn, but does not take advice or recommendation
- he wants to learn C by examining C compilers, rather than by reading a
book or doing a course.  I, along with many in comp.lang.c over the
years, have tried to give him advice and suggestions, but it has not
succeeded in the past, and I don't expect it to succeed now.

I think there is a strong chance that he will ask more questions here in
the near future, and if he is true to past form, they will get
increasingly detailed or bizarre.  People who try to help him often end
up frustrated and annoyed - I'm giving you this heads-up so that you see
it coming, and don't end up pulling your hair out over him like others have!

If I am wrong, and he really has learned something about C, and really
does come way with an understanding of compilers from looking at the gcc
source, then that would be great.

mvh.,

David