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From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: What is C?
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 16:57:53 -0700
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David Kleinecke <dkleinecke@gmail.com> writes:
[...]
> The (my copy of C89) uses the word "sum" but never defines "sum". One
> cannot appeal to the "ordinary language meaning of sum" because a
> computer does not do that for some cases.

One certainly can appeal to the English meaning of "sum".
The standard clearly specifies the cases in which the result of
"+" is something else, or is undefined.  In other cases, common
sense suffices.  I suppose it could have defined it in a way that
explicitly specifies that 2 + 2 yields 4, but it hardly seems
necessary.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Working, but not speaking, for JetHead Development, Inc.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"