Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:14:18 -0700 From: Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> To: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> Cc: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Why?? (prog question) Message-ID: <20090331201418.GB1830@thought.org> In-Reply-To: <20090331210142.7dcb52ec.freebsd@edvax.de> References: <20090331025726.GA10888@thought.org> <20090331112122.ae329221.freebsd@edvax.de> <20090331155416.GA8590@thought.org> <20090331210142.7dcb52ec.freebsd@edvax.de>
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On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 09:01:42PM +0200, Polytropon wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:54:17 -0700, Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> wrote:
> > > 1. Use the tab character for indentation. You can set its
> > > length with your favourite editor (e. g. mcedit: F9,
> > > Options, General; joe: ^TD). Don't waste with spaces.
> >
> > Ja, been doing this since 1978. Does anybody hit space-key
> > 8 times!?
>
> I've seen "corporate guideline" for indentation = 10 spaces.
> Used ^TD8 and then finally replace tab -> ' '. :-)
>
(sounds like corp. mentality... )
>
>
> > > 2. The main() function should be declared as
> > > int main(int argc, char *argv[])
> > > or
> > > int main(int argc, char **argv)
> > > Note that it's returning (int). Use this functionality.
> >
> > I've come to prefer the *char argv[] ... I didn't use the formal int
> > return because this was supposed throwaway code. (Going on years now
> > tho, so ... my-bad.)
>
> The standard assumption of the return code is (int), so if
> it's not declared, it's (int) anyway.
>
sure; and the code i've been writing as "prefab'd" C is
as clean and explicit as i can make it. difft with
throwaway stuff. [ may need to rethink that!]
>
>
> > > 4. Use the predefined return codes, don't hardcode them.
> > > FreeBSD has EXiT_SUCCESS and EXIT_FAILURE, they're for
> > > maximum compatibility (such as with Linux). There are
> > > more exit codes for differentiation, but they're specific
> > > to FreeBSD, as far as I know.
> >
> > This I did not know. I have a prefab include file with a bunch
> > of my own similar #defines. Wow, great!
>
> FreeBSD defines additional exit codes to specify the reason for
> exiting more precisely in /usr/include/sysexits.h - for your
> example, exit(EX_USAGE); would be a good exit code.
>
> I don't know how far this is adopted in Linux, but I think you
> can only use the C99 two standard return codes.
>
> >From "man 3 exit":
> The C Standard (ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (``ISO C99'')) defines the values 0,
> EXIT_SUCCESS, and EXIT_FAILURE as possible values of status.
>
>
>
> > > 5. This is highly debatable: Use a good style for { and }.
> > >
> >
> > Well, you're using the K&R { }; but for me, the "Ingres"
> > style [[ yes, it was invented by someone else ]] gets my vote.
> > I scan
> > {
> > and
> > }
> >
> > more easily. 6 of one, half-dozen of another... .
>
> In fact, I'm sticking to the concept that only the highest level
> of "code groupers" deserve a new line {: these are functions in
> C and class methods in C++. Everything else has the { appended
> (after a space) to the construct that causes the {. So if you find
> a }, you only need to look up. It's obvious that a } is caused
> by a {, but you want to know the construct that made it appear,
> for example if(), while(), a struct definition or something similar.
> With this concept at hand, looking up will make you find this
> construct in question at the first glance.
>
it really is what you're used to. somehow, several weeks ago, a
function just would not behave, and after close to an hour of
using vi's "showmatch", i discovered that i was missing one
closing brace. *mumble*
> You could see this in the example.
>
> But as we'll all agree, this is a thing of individual preference.
>
>
> > > Here is the program again, with some stylistic modifications
> > > and the "correct" (read: recommended, usual) exit code handling:
> >
> > I'll swipe this. I use this code with openoffice and abiword
> > because I compose with vi; but I almost always forget to run
> > my text thru joinlines and have to quit the word processor, run
> > jlines <foo> bar; mv bar foo; then restart the word processor.
> > I figure that I've spend several centuries of my lifetime messing
> > with jlines, so i'm overdue for doing it right....
>
> I think OpenOffice has the function Input - from file (at least
> the german version has: Alt-E D = Einfügen Datei). This makes it
> easier to incorporate text from an external file.
>
thanks for the datapoint; i'll check. i type virtually all text
in vi just because my fingers know it. (i've been in openoffice
and found myself hitting the escape key or "/" to search ...
and other vi-isms. :)
gary
>
> --
> Polytropon
> >From Magdeburg, Germany
> Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
> Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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--
Gary Kline kline@thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix
http://jottings.thought.org http://transfinite.thought.org
The 2.41a release of Jottings: http://jottings.thought.org/index.php
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