All the Pascal fanboys did this (and worse) before they gave in and finally converted :)
#define begin {
#define end }
#define begin {
#define end }
(What that FAQ doesn't mention is the real reason the Bourne shell deserved to be in the IOCCC: The way it allocated memory. It trapped SIGSEGV (the signal the kernel sends you when you've provoked a segmentation violation or segfault by trying to access memory you don't own) so it would know when to request more RAM from the OS. This later became a problem for people looking to port the Bourne shell, for example to the Motorola 68000 CPUs which powered the first generation of Unix workstations.
#define new(x) (malloc(sizeof(x)))
#define dispose(x) { if((x) != NULL) { free(x); } }
Have you ever bothered to read ANSI C specification?
EDIT: Well it appears my recollections of ANSI C have faded away and free(NULL) was actually defined in ANSI C89.
You didn't say which version of the ANSI C specification.
Which does not matter because all of them clearly define the behavior of free(NULL). The language has been the same since C89[0]:
> The free function causes the space pointed to by ptr to be deallocated, that is, made available for further allocation. If ptr is a null pointer, no action occurs.
I'm guessing pjmlp confused free(NULL) which is defined and double free which is UB:
> if the argument does not match a pointer earlier returned by the calloc , malloc , or realloc function, or if the space has been deallocated by a call to free or realloc , the behavior is undefined.
and didn't "bother to read the ANSI C specification" because he was so certain of what he misremembered.
Yes, it appears my recollections of ANSI C have faded away.
> Have you ever bothered to read ANSI C specification?
You mean the one that states
> The free function causes the space pointed to by ptr to be deallocated, that is, made available for further allocation. If ptr is a null pointer, no action occurs.
?
If ptr is a null pointer, no action occurs.