wsmith@mdbs.UUCP (Bill Smith) (01/05/90)
For those helpful souls that wish their C or C++ compiler to generate helpful warning messages in contexts that are technically correct, I have another argument that that is inherently a bad idea. People are not the only entities that generate code for C or C++ compilers. It is often very useful for a program to generate code in second phase By doing this, development time for an application is reduced. If it is convenient for the pre-processor to generate code that is in a pattern that is a mistake when done by humans, any warnings in such context will render the rest of the compiler's error checking useless. (What happens is the compiler generates hundreds of warnings that get redirected to /dev/null along with any useful and deserved errors that were generated.) As a side note, I think one can show that if you had a fortran program that generated a second fortran program, the two pass execution model would have equivalent power to any recursive language. In other words, one could guarantee that the generated fortran program would never has stack overflow, which one could not guarantee in a single fortran program. :-) Bill Smith pur-ee!mdbs!wsmith (not my employer's opinions)
ewiles@netxdev.DHL.COM (Edwin Wiles) (01/06/90)
In article <1471@mdbs.UUCP> wsmith@mdbs.UUCP (Bill Smith) writes: >For those helpful souls that wish their C or C++ compiler to generate >helpful warning messages in contexts that are technically correct, I >have another argument that that is inherently a bad idea. >....{edited for brevity}.... >If it is convenient for the pre-processor to generate code that is in a >pattern that is a mistake when done by humans, any warnings in such >context will render the rest of the compiler's error checking useless. 1) If it's a mistake for a human to do it, then it's a mistake for a program to do it. 2) If it's not a mistake, then don't complain about it. (Personally, I consider type-mismatches to be mistakes. Supposedly "safe" mismatches have bitten me too often for me to 'ignore' them without careful consideration, and even then I'll typecast rather than leave a "mistake".) 3) Any program smart enough to write code should be smart enough to avoid things such as type mismatches. If it isn't, then fix it! "Who?... Me?... WHAT opinions?!?" | Edwin Wiles Schedule: (n.) An ever changing nightmare. | NetExpress, Inc. ...!{hadron,sundc,pyrdc,uunet}!netxcom!ewiles | 1953 Gallows Rd. Suite 300 ewiles@iad-nxe.global-mis.DHL.COM | Vienna, VA 22182
bts@sas.UUCP (Brian T. Schellenberger) (01/07/90)
In article <1471@mdbs.UUCP> wsmith@mdbs.UUCP (Bill Smith) writes: |People are not the only entities that generate code for C or C++ compilers. However, they *do* write most of them (maybe not most code, but surely most programs). So a good complier should be fairly chatty, especially to help the poor inocents who are just getting started with C. Then it should be easy to turn off the chatiness, both on a single-message basis and by turning off the whole shootin' match of questionable messages. Those in the know will have the werewithall to set up aliases which turn off these messages all the time; babes in the woods will be saved much grief. [Lattice compilers, for one (on the Amiga, at least) come pretty close meeting this ideal, BTW.] CLAIMER: I work for Lattice's parent company, so I may not be objective. -- -- Brian, the Man from Babble-on. ...!mcnc!rti!sas!bts -- (Brian Schellenberger) "No one will ever write a song called 'Nitro Burning Funny Cars'" -- THE DEAD MILKMEN, "Nitro Burning Funny Cars"
econrad@thor.wright.edu (Eric Conrad) (01/10/90)
From article <1471@mdbs.UUCP>, by wsmith@mdbs.UUCP (Bill Smith): > For those helpful souls that wish their C or C++ compiler to generate > helpful warning messages in contexts that are technically correct, I > have another argument that that is inherently a bad idea. > > People are not the only entities that generate code for C or C++ compilers. So turn the warning suppression flag on for automatic-generated code. -- Eric Conrad +----------------------------------------------------------+ | Eric Conrad - Wright State University | | "Progress was all right once, but it went on too long." | +----------------------------------------------------------+