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Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 13:29:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Thomas David Rivers <ponds!rivers@dg-rtp.dg.com>
Message-Id: <199705191729.NAA23263@lakes.water.net>
To: bde@zeta.org.au, ponds!FreeBSD.ORG!hackers, ponds!uriah.heep.sax.de!j
Subject: Re: Variable initialization
Cc: ponds!FreeBSD.ORG!core
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> 
> >> Can someone tell me why this is called obfuscation ?
> 
> With old compilers, it was a pessimization to initalize variables
> unnecessarily or long before they are used.  With modern compilers,
> it defeats automatic checking for uninitialized variables and may
> still prevent some optimizations.  

 Err, umm; just a nit - I would note that it defeats the check by
initializing the variable; thus, it's not uninitialized :-) :-)
What optimizations were you considering?


>                                    A wrongly initialized variable
> is worse than an initialized one since it can't be checked for.

 Oh - I'd have to agree with that one!

> 
> >I've cc'ed the core team: we should IMHO make this sentence in
> >style(9) less strict.  My English ain't good enough for a better
> >formulation...
> 
> We already made it less strict.  It is the one thing in the Lite2
> /usr/src/admin/style that someone felt strongly enough about to
> say "DO NOT" do this.
> 
> Bruce
> 

	- Dave Rivers -