Re: Problem trying to implement generics.

["Marin David Condic" <marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com>]

I've been an on-and-off C programmer for a *lot* of years. I'm currently
doing nothing but C programming. I dislike the various C shorthand operators
and don't use them because it is not immediately and intuitively obvious to
even the most casual observer what it is they are doing. Most programmers
can recognize the basic algebraic notation that is common to almost all
popular programming languages (your basic "Y = M * X + B" type of thing) and
so I use that type of expression in (almost) all C programming contexts. (I
don't think I need to mention all the possible problems that come up in the
more clever uses of esoteric features like the difference between "++X" and
"X++" - but I guess I just did. People who use *that* kind of thing should
be turned into castrati so that they start singing a different tune. :-)

I've had the debate with various associates which usually starts out with
"Any *competent* C programmer should be able to....." My retort is always:
"How does it make me money when a less-than-"competent" C programmer has to
decypher it?" Every minute spent trying to figure out what an expression
does is a minute *not* spent making money for the stockholders. If there is
even the slightest possibility that someone can misinterpret what the
expression means or possibly get the syntax wrong or otherwise botch things
up, then it ought to be avoided. (Assuming one has a simpler, more obvious
representation for the same thing. After all, there are those who will have
trouble understanding "Y = M * X + B" but I'm not sure I can make it much
simpler for them. At least if they know some Fortran, Pascal, Ada, <insert
language here>, chances are they won't have much trouble guessing what that
sort of expression means in C.)

The "+=", et alia, were basically invented by people who couldn't type. I'd
rather opt for the clarity in the expression and not worry about all the
interesting ways of representing it in fewer keystrokes. After all, on any
given day of the week *I'm* not a "competent" C programmer! (Especially
before coffee in the AM!) I don't want to work that hard to understand what
I did yesterday when I was fully awake.

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Brian Rogoff" <bpr@shell5.ba.best.com> wrote in message
news:Pine.BSF.4.21.0104171057590.21817-100000@shell5.ba.best.com...
> > Of course, I also refused to use ++, --, +=, and all the other
> > wierd C operators.  Matter of taste, I guess.
>
> Indeed, some people have a problem adapting to the features of other
> languages.