On: A C89 compiler that produces executables that are ...

[modeless]

Yeah, a shebang is required, and unfortunately it isn't valid C so you can no longer feed the file directly to the compiler. I just figured out how to whittle it down to 2 lines though! Thanks for the // idea. Here it is in both shebang (2 line) and non-shebang (1 line) versions: https://gist.github.com/jdarpinian/1952a58b823222627cc1a8b83...

[emmelaich → modeless]

Thanks, good stuff. dolmen/Olivier's followup is good too.

I now remember why I used the complicated expr command and make; it's to ensure it works with C and C++.

And any language that happens to accept // as a comment and is supported by "make". (note that no actual Makefile is required)

[modeless → emmelaich]

That is a cool feature! It's a bit annoying to have separate versions for C and C++.