A question of style
Jeff Aguilera
jeffa at hpmwtd.HP.COM
Sat Dec 2 09:52:53 AEST 1989
>>while (c = getchar(), c != EOF)
Too much annoying white space, conveying no information or structure. Try
while (c=getchar(), c!=EOF)
instead. Pull atomic concepts and actions together.
>The standard C idiom for this is
> while ( (c = getchar()) != EOF )
Gee. I prefer the first construct. Indeed, it is the only one I dare use,
because it is so much clearer. But I understand (and accept) that most
programmers are compelled to use the K&R form, following their masters' dogma
blindly, criticizing all others.
>and experienced C programmers are likely to read the standard idiom
>with greater facility than your proposed use of a comma operator for this.
I hope an experienced programmer is capable of understanding both expressions.
His mental algorithmic model should be independent of the implementation and
its expression.
-----
jeffa
Mathematicians are like Frenchmen: whatever you say to them they
translate into their own language, and forthwith it is something
entirely different.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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