Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Path: utzoo!telly!druid!darcy
From: darcy@druid.uucp (D'Arcy J.M. Cain)
Subject: Re: Help: VAX C problem
Message-ID: <1991Apr2.133759.21922@druid.uucp>
Organization: D'Arcy Cain Consulting, West Hill, Ontario
References: <11697.27f376d8@zeus.unomaha.edu> <1991Mar30.161854.27378@cbnewsk.att.com> <4072.27f7215c@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 13:37:59 GMT

In article <4072.27f7215c@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> Stan Brown writes:
>I bet if you stopped 100 C programmers, more than 50 of 'em would tell
>you that parentheses are part of the return statement, just like if,
>while, do, and for.  They're not.

You must be moving in the wrong circles.  Ask around here and I bet hardly
anyone thinks that parentheses are required in the return statement.  However
parentheses are always allowed around *ANY* expression so what's the big deal
if someone wants to put them there?  I bet you also have a problem with:
    if ((a == 1) || (a == 5)) ...

>I don't want to start another religious war (the one on EQU or == is
>enough excitement for me), but since the ( ) don't add anything to a
>return statement I'd suggest leaving them out. 

And I suggest using as many as make you comfortable.  I don't want to
shock anyone but I have been known to do the following and I am totally
unrepentant:
   return(5 + (a * k));

Whitespace doesn't add anything to the program either.  Should we leave
that out as well?

-- 
D'Arcy J.M. Cain (darcy@druid)     |
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