+ While <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> is always provided in ncurses, the older form is only
+ available as a build-time configuration option. If not specially
+ configured, <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> is the same as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG>.
+
+ Both forms of <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> have drawbacks:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of the calls to <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> use only one or two parameters. Passing
+ nine on each call is awkward.
+
+ Using <STRONG>long</STRONG> for the numeric parameter type is a workaround to make
+ the parameter use the same amount of stack as a pointer. That ap-
+ proach dates back to the mid-1980s, before C was standarized.
+ Since then, there is a standard (and pointers are not required to
+ fit in a long).
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Providing the right number of parameters for a variadic function
+ such as <STRONG>tiparm</STRONG> can be a problem, in particular for string parame-
+ ters. However, only a few terminfo capabilities use string parame-
+ ters (e.g., the ones used for programmable function keys).
+
+ The ncurses library checks usage of these capabilities, and returns
+ an error if the capability mishandles string parameters. But it
+ cannot check if a calling program provides strings in the right
+ places for the <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> calls.
+
+ The <STRONG><A HREF="tput.3x.html">tput(3x)</A></STRONG> program checks its use of these capabilities with a
+ table, so that it calls <STRONG>tparm</STRONG> correctly.
+