Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!dalcs!garfield!john13
From: john13@garfield.UUCP (John Russell)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Modern langauges
Message-ID: <4369@garfield.UUCP>
Date: 12 Jan 88 14:19:54 GMT
References: <11072@brl-adm.ARPA> <519@gethen.UUCP>
Reply-To: john13@garfield.UUCP (John Russell)
Distribution: na
Organization: Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's
Lines: 58

In article <519@gethen.UUCP> farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren) writes:
>V4039%TEMPLEVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Stan Horwitz) writes:
>>It's syntax is strange
>>but that can be fixed to some extent by simply creating a file with
>>#DEFINE statements defining thins in easier terms.
>
>This is an astoundingly bad idea.  Doing this may result in the program
>being more understandable for you (at least, until you learn C a little
>better), but will make it damn near indecipherable for anyone else.  

I wonder about this. One of the uses I have for many #defines is often to
create functions with short, mnemonic names that _I_ am comfortable with,
then have verbose, self-explanatory symbolic names that automatically cast
the types of paramaters. I can write programs for my own use quickly, or
easy-to-understand code with a little more effort. I might even use "verbose"
mode for a tricky section where I want to make sure I don't get lost.

eg:

#define forward(x) fd((double)(x))

/* move graphics cursor forward by some predefined amount (a la Logo) */

fd(distance)
double distance;
{ ... }

main()
{
 double l1;
 int l2;
 short l3;
 long l4;

... assign some values to these variables ...

 /* I don't want to assume that everyone can follow my notation, so... */

 forward(l1);
 forward(l2);
 forward(l3);
 forward(l4);
}

More readable to someone else, portable, and if I mix different types I
don't have to worry about what type C will promote the result to. Of course
this means I could pass a pointer without complaint, but you have to give
the programmer *some* credit :-).

John

PS I'm sure once you've programmed a few operating systems this becomes
academic.
-- 
"Operating systems room, prepare for shutdown."
"I never thought I'd be HAPPY to see our ratings do DOWN!"
		-- lots of these were sprinkled throughout the 
		   last broadcast episode of _Max_Headroom_