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From: cspw.quagga@p0.f4.n494.z5.fidonet.org (cspw quagga)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Can lint help an ANSI-C programmer?
Message-ID: <6328.265D8157@puddle.fidonet.org>
Date: 26 May 90 03:03:32 GMT
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I'm after some advice on lint:  I don't use it, and want to know whether
I should.
 
1. Is it ANSI C compatible?  (Or are there many dialects of lint?
   Would a Xenix lint be the same as most others?)
 
2. I program C the 'new' way - full prototypes, casts, standard ANSI.
   I enable all compiler warnings and port the sources to a couple of
   system, including VAX C, Turbo C, Helios (transputer) C and TopSpeed C.
   Is lint likely to discover anything new or give useful advice after this
   gauntlet?  Are there still things that lint can discover (by looking at all
   modules simultaneously) that a C compiler cannot discover when modules are
   compiled independantly?
 
3. Was the intention that ANSI C with prototypes/casts etc.  would remove the
   need for external checkers like lint?  Can we expect to see the demise of
   lint in the next few years?
 
Thanks
 
Pete Wentworth




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