>    char buf[total];

     The following works in plain old C:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
static void print_start(char const *name, char const *what)
{
      unsigned name_len, what_len, total;

      name_len = strlen(name);
      what_len = strlen(what);
      total = name_len + what_len + 3;
      {
        char buf[total], *p=buf;
        memcpy(p, name, name_len);
        p += name_len;
        *p++ = ' ';
        memcpy(p, what, what_len);
        p += what_len;
        *p++ = ':';
        *p = ' ';
        *buf &= ~0x20;

        Write(2, buf, total);
      }
}

     Embedded subprograms have other use cases. In long programs, they 
allow to declare variables with a limited scope, just near where they 
are used.

     Didier