[NTLUG:Discuss] Ada...etc. (was Re: programming classes...)

[Greg Edwards]

Darin W. Smith wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 17:13:54 -0500 (CDT), Bug Hunter 


> ways.  For example, many people "cast away" lint errors.  That is, they 
> put in unneccessary (and wrong) casts in order to get lint to quit 
> complaining rather than take a step back and see what it is that lint is 
> trying to draw their attention to.  Backing up and looking at what you 
> did in your code design to set off one of the compiler's error/warning 
> rules is almost always:


> bugs and bloat, I feel completely ripped off.  When developing, after I 
> get raw functionality established, I tend to turn all warnings into 
> errors for at least a few days, so that I can see and correct what the 
> compiler (and lint, if I can use it too) can find for me.  Believe me, 
> it saves a lot of time in the long-run.
> 


A very long time ago I adopted the rule that if the compiler does not 
understand what I mean then it does not belong there.  I turn on 
warnings are errors when I build my makefile and leave it at that.  It 
may take me a little longer to get a cast through but I don't have to 
fix it later.  This is especially true for multiple levels of 
indirection on pointers.  By the time I've convinced a compiler that I 
really know what I'm doing, I do.  More times than I can count I've 
revised 2 or 3 lines of code to get the complier to accept it and as a 
result it was much better code.

-- 
Greg Edwards
New Age Software, Inc. - http://www.nas-inet.com
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