Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 02:04:41 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Cliff Sarginson <cls@raggedclown.net> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Style(9) question Message-ID: <3DDF52B9.88E852F6@mindspring.com> References: <XFMail.20021122160808.jhb@FreeBSD.org> <a05200f1eba04a864625b@[192.168.0.3]> <3DDF241B.FF30ACE2@mindspring.com> <20021123095502.GB11348@raggedclown.net>
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Cliff Sarginson wrote: > > That means that they are limited to holding in their head only the > > maximum amount of data that can be displayed on a screen at a time, > > so the more non-whitespace data you can display in a limited amount > > of real-estate, the better. > > Psychologically speaking I think this is not necessarily true. > Programs aside there can be too much information on a screen, a > multitude of web-sites are like this. The logical conclusion (although I > don't think it is the one you are trying to make btw) is that you should > have multiple statements on a line. Perl. 8-). > I am fairly keen on a the rather ad-hoc "rule" that if you cannot see the > whole of a "C" function on the > screen at the same time then you need to re-think it out. The exception > to this being functions that are simply decision-makers, such as a long > "switch" that simply sets flags etc. You must have literally wet yourself the first time you read tcp_input(). 8-) 8-). My take on this is that some problems are complicated, and, due to bad design and legacy issues, or just plain performance requirements, end up needing complicated solutions. For these solutions, there are a limited number of people that can deal with maintaining or fixing that code: the set of people able to keep that level of complexity straight in their heads long enough to deal with the issues facing them. It's not very egalitarian, I know: I'm supposed to say that "all people are equally gifted/challenged", and then we adjust the world so that everyone can perform at an acceptable level in all jobs, but, frankly, that's just not true: there's some code that most people should kee their grubby paws out of, and That's Just The Way It Is(tm). -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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