Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!haven!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: LINT won't do your debugging for you
Message-ID: <10475@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Date: 30 Jun 89 21:28:07 GMT
References: <713@srhqla.SR.COM>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 16

In article <713@srhqla.SR.COM> tcm@srhqla.UUCP (Tim Meighan) writes:
!1. There is rarely, if ever, a case when it would be reasonable for a
!   program to contain an if() statement that, when evaluated as true,
!   does absolutely nothing.

How about macro expansions or code generated by another program?
A similar case (null "false" branch) is often seen:

#define swap(a,b,type) if(1){type t=(a);(a)=(b);(b)=t;}else

!2. Even assuming a use for such code, LINT should still call attention to all
!   cases of null instruction blocks on GP, since they probably represent a
!   mistake rather than intentional coding.

It should probably be an option, so one could disable the reams of
warnings that extensive deliberate use of such code could generate.