(j3.2006) (SC22WG5.3584) OPTIONAL arguments and C interop

[Aleksandar Donev]

Hi,
> Ths initial specification of the VALUE attribute did not allow the
> combination of OPTIONAL and VALUE.  The extension to allow them
> together was a late addition.  Adding that extension was daft.
Indeed! We got a little carried away with "integration" of VALUE and 
ended up mixing it in a little too deep, and now it causes trouble.
In any case, it is very clear to me that Jim has no case other than "IBM 
is disadvantaged unfairly" (which is an OK argument). As Bill said, 
hidden arguments are for compilers, not programmers!
Best,
Aleks