questions from using lint

[Root Boy Jim]

> In article <501 at brl-smoke.ARPA>, rbj at icst-cmr (Root Boy Jim) writes:
> > 	Most People			Your's Truly
> > 
> > 	if (c) {			if (c)
> > 		w = y;				w = x,
> > 		y = z;				y = z;
> > 	}				/* look ma, no brace */
> 
> There is an excellent, excellent book, which everybody should
> read, called The Elements of Style, by William Strunk and E. B.
> White.  It is about writing in English, but almost everything in
> it applies to writing in programming languages as well.  One of
> my favorite quotes (from page 74 of the third edition) is
> 
> 	"In ordinary composition, use orthodox spelling.  Do not
> 	write "nite" for "night," "thru" for "through," "pleez"
> 	for "please," unless you plan to introduce a complete
> 	system of simplified spelling and are prepared to take
> 	the consequences."
 
Attacking me on both fronts, eh? Well GFY! These people are obviously
more conservative than I choose to be. After all, don't we hear
enuf people screaming about UUCP transmission isn't free? Well, I
am just helping out in my own little way :-).

What kind of a person would let the way someone spells bother them?
You must have awfully thin skin. Worry about something that makes a
difference for a change. After all, you *do* understand me don't you?

> The consequences, of course, are that in virtually all cases you
> will be laughed out of the room.  Convention has a place.  

True. When you start following mine I'll start following yours. For
example, I happen to think that all code should be formatted such
that all funxions fit on a page. This is a good idea, but one I
seldom see adhered to.

You're laughing? So what? I'm laughing at you for getting stuck
on an insignificant detail. Since you don't have anything real
to say, you're attacking the style, not the substance.

> You are not being a sheep or a lemming if you do things the way most
> people do things; you are being responsible.  C can be hard
> enough to read when it is formatted "correctly;" we certainly
> don't need any more unorthodox methodologies floating around.
 
I didn't make this style up just to be ornery. My whole point is that
the delimiting style chosen by the authors of the language left
a little something to be desired. Bourne's macros fixed this.
And yet, some people complained about them.

> Proponents of things like "look ma, no braces" will claim that
> theirs is not "ordinary composition," and that they are therefore
> exempt from generally accepted programming practices.  This
> statement is in fact perfectly true.  If you want to be a rugged
> individualist and program in a vacuum; if nobody else ever reads
> your code; if only you have to maintain it or port it to other
> machines; then you are certainly welcome to make each program you
> write an odds on favorite for the winner's circle in the
> Obfuscated C Contest.  However, do the rest of us a favor and
> perfect your isolated environment by sparing this newsgroup from
> your rantings and ravings.
 
Hey, lighten up pal. Most of the `examples' I posted I have
given up long ago. Even with the comma trick, sooner or later you're
going to want to add a control statement that forces the braces.

I just get tired of all you sanctimonious zealots that insist upon
quoting the party line on everything. It makes me ornery.

You can't please everyone all of the time. And you can't expect
people to please you either. All you can do get off on the common
ground, while putting aside the (minor & insignificant) differences.
I quit trying to please everyone else long ago. That's your job.

As for sparing you, I just might do that. I'm getting pretty sick
of these discussions and I haven't seen anything new for awhile.

>                                          Steve Summit
>                                          tektronix!copper!stevesu

	(Root Boy) Jim Cottrell		<rbj at cmr>
	"You used to laugh about
	 Everybody that was hanging out"