From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,baaf5f793d03d420 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: fc89c,97188312486d4578 X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,6154de2e240de72a X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: Dan.Pop@cern.ch (Dan Pop) Subject: Re: What's the best language to start with? [was: Re: Should I learn C or Pascal?] Date: 1996/08/11 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 173553988 sender: news@news.cern.ch (USENET News System) x-nntp-posting-host: ues5.cern.ch references: <31FBC584.4188@ivic.qc.ca> <01bb83f5$923391e0$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <01bb8534$b2718bc0$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> <4ud81d$5ii@solutions.solon.com> <4ug5u5$kha@dawn.mmm.com> <01bb86f6$d92cf6a0$32ee6fce@timhome2> organization: CERN European Lab for Particle Physics newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-08-11T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In <01bb86f6$d92cf6a0$32ee6fce@timhome2> "Tim Behrendsen" writes: >Chris Sonnack wrote in article ><4ug5u5$kha@dawn.mmm.com>... > >> They're both pretty clear. And any real programmer knows rule #27: "There >> should be no constants in your code except the numbers 1 and 0, and you >> should view those with suspicion." > >I would say, "There should be no constants in your code except 0. Tests >should be less than, equal, greater than, or not equal 0. Otherwise, >it better involve a symbol." This is ludicrous. When coding a binary search, NO symbol will be better than the constant 2. Ditto for the constant 10 when doing binary to decimal conversions. And the list could go on and on. The rule is: "there should be no _arbitrary_ constants in your code, with no exceptions". Dan -- Dan Pop CERN, CN Division Email: Dan.Pop@cern.ch Mail: CERN - PPE, Bat. 31 R-004, CH-1211 Geneve 23, Switzerland