BB>     While all this kerfuffle about string storage is all
BB> very interesting academically, does it have any practical
BB> application?

I was reading the source code of a compiler (of all things) and noticed 
a construct like

char *c1[] = {"I", "forgot", "the",
"exact", "verbiage"};

used several times.  I know from experience that trying to write to such 
a construct is undefined and the results are unpredictable (works with 
Borland but bombs with Microsoft).  At that time the question came into 
my head.  My question was just a curiosity, nothing more.

BB>     We have done our best to answer your questions, but my 
BB> question to you is - what difference does it make?

To me, none because I normally use the much more conservative (and time 
consuming) approach of dutifully mapping out an area of memory, using it 
and then disposing of it.

BB>     If it is as I suspect, and then only if you are confident enough
BB> of your  own carefulness in programming, you should break the 
BB> program down into separate modules and use an overlay 
BB> linker to reconnect the modules dynamically. This will 
BB> result in redundant string space not only going out of 
BB> scope, but also being cleared out of memory by the overlay 
BB> loader. Is that what you were after? The practice is not 
BB> actually dangerous, it just requires care and is a bit old-
BB> fashioned now, because it has largely been superseded by 
BB> DLLs.

In fact I DO use DLLs.  I haven't done any embedded programming in the 
last seven years.  The reason that I have never considered using 
overlays in embedded systems is that if a system were large enough, it 
probably wouldn't fit anywhere in memory, anyway.  The embedded systems 
with which I worked had no mass storage devices.  Programs were kept in 
EEPROMS and data was held in static memory (which was _really_ scarce).

BB> I can see applications in embedded programs where 
BB> memory is limited and linear, but I thought that the 
BB> hardware revolution had caught up even there.

There resources required for storing the overlay manager weren't there.

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