[Geany-devel] encoding combo boxes bug - utility functions

[Nick Treleaven]

On 24/01/2012 03:30, Matthew Brush wrote:
> I probably don't know 40%+ of Geany's code after casually hacking on it
> for well over a year. When reading the code, I have to refer to the
> source file for each function called to see what it does, with GTK+ I've
> already done this for many cases, and know what it does. When writing
> the code, I have to first write it in normal GTK+ and then go through
> and make sure I haven't used any functions that are wrapped in the Geany
> API/headers and even other static functions in the same file. It sounds
> trivial if you are intimate with the source code, but if you aren't it
> can make understanding the code you need to understand in order to fix a
> bug or add a feature that much harder to follow.

If the function and its parameters are well named this isn't a big problem.

>> then that's a significant benefit in avoiding temporary variables or
>> nested expressions, which are harder to read. As I said, if the function
>> is obvious, there's no harm.
>>
>
> You don't really avoid temp vars, you just put them in another file. And

Eh? You have *one* copy of the temp var, not e.g. 10.

> if an expression is only nested one or two levels deep, it's easier (at
> least for me) in many cases to read if the code is inline.
>
> For a (fictional) example:
>
>      void some_func(void)
>      {
>        GError *err=NULL;
>
>        if (!g_some_func(..., &err))
>        {
>          printf ("error: %s\n", err->message);
>          g_error_free (err->message);
>        }
>        ...
>      }
>
> is easier for me to read than:
>
>      /* misc.h */
>      #define EZG(...) { ... actual code from above ... }
>
> ---- separate files ----
>
>      /* some.c */
>      void some_func(void)
>      {
>        EZG(g_some_func, ...);
>        ...
>      }
>
> Even if it saves you repeating that same 5-6 line idiom a thousand times
> throughout the source, unless you wrote both pieces of code, or unless
> EZG() is in a well know API like GTK+, then it makes the code harder to
> read, IMO, which many more people do many more times than writing it.

When have I ever suggested doing that?