>> I've actually contemplated building a "compiler"/runtime which goes
>> out of its way to break the various common assumptions [...]
> You forgot: having the codes for '0'..'9' and 'a'..'z' non-adjacent,
> and having the NULL pointer have a non-zero bit pattern.

Character codes - yes, I forgot about that.

Non-all-0-bits nil pointers - I actually didn't forget that, but just
didn't bother mentioning it.  (That's actually one of the "nonportable"
assumptions that NetBSD *does* make.  I've always disliked that - in my
more cantankerous moments I've even called it a bug - and try to avoid
making that assumption in my own code, even when I'm already limiting
portability enough that it's a safe assumption.)

/~\ The ASCII				der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML	       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B