Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!cica!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu!raksha.eng.ohio-state.edu!rob From: rob@raksha.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rob Carriere) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: ambiguous ? Message-ID: <3348@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu> Date: 27 Oct 89 01:32:54 GMT References: <2320@convex.UUCP> <14113@lanl.gov> Sender: news@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu Reply-To: rob@raksha.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rob Carriere) Organization: Ohio State Univ, College of Engineering Lines: 17 In article <14113@lanl.gov> jlg@lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes: [on evaluation order of function arguments] >[...] The above Fortran rule is too restrictive. The >C rule is too permissive. The middle ground would give the user >more control _and_ better insure the correctness of the code. Could you _please_ explain why you think this is important at all? Throwing interacting side effects into a function call is one very good way to confuse the sh*t out everybody, including the poor person who has to maintain the code. If you need side effects in your arguments and they interact, assign to variables first, that way it is clear what you're doing. If your compiler doesn't like sequences like that, send your vendor oxidizing mail. As for readability, I think any problems in that department are more due to fact that you are trying to do something messy and very complex than to any language deficiencies. Besides, just how often does it happen? SR