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From: Mark Wilden <Mark@mWilden.com>
Subject: Re: Coding for Obscurity
Date: 1997/11/24
Message-ID: <3479F8FB.2D7F@mWilden.com>#1/1
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Date: 1997-11-24T00:00:00+00:00
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Jim Johnson wrote:
> 
> >  I agree that readability of code is not targeted
> > at the author himself, but must it be targeted at a newbie unfamiliar
> > with C idiomas?
> 
> Yes, it must; because in most situations, that is who the maintenance
> programmers are.

If the only code newbies read is code directed toward newbies, then
they'll remain newbies. A good programmer is someone who can read an
unfamiliar idiom (if it is truly useful and not merely obscure), learn
it and apply it.

> "unfamiliar with C idioms" could be any of us. There are so many ways to
> write C code, there is no way to predict which ones your audience will have
> used. (Personally, I never use ?: conditionals; I always have to think it
> through when I see them.)

But ?: is not an idiom; it's a part of the language definition. I'll
give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that when you think it
through, you understand it.