Re: ANSI C compliance

From: Steve Summit (scs_at_eskimo.com)
Date: 11/05/03

  • Next message: Ben Pfaff: "Re: "Mastering C Pointers"...." 
    Date: 5 Nov 2003 01:56:01 GMT

    Roose wrote:
    > Writing truly standard C as valued by the "regulars" in this newsgroup
    > is time-consuming if you're not experienced. And it takes time to
    > accumulate the knowledge necessary to do so. Thus, in the business
    > world, it is not considered good practice, since time = money.

    If you stop to think about it, this is a pretty meaningless
    statement. Take out the words "truly standard C as valued by the
    regulars in this newsgroup" and replace them by any positive
    attribute of code you can think of:

            Writing functional code is time-consuming if you're not experienced.
            Writing maintainable code is time-consuming if you're not experienced.
            Writing compact code is time-consuming if you're not experienced.
            Writing efficient code is time-consuming if you're not experienced.
            Writing correct code is time-consuming if you're not experienced.

    Are all of these, then, "not considered good practice" in the
    business world?

    The obvious solution here is to work on gaining some good
    experience, so that good code (by any metric) doesn't have to be
    so time-consuming to write.

    > There is a notion called "speculative generality"... This is
    > basically when you write code that speculates on what you may...
    > need in the future. Instead of writing code that does exactly
    > what you need to do, you write something that does more than that,
    > potentially.

    And this is a very tricky set of ideas to think properly about.
    Yes, sometimes when you overengineer something you're wasting
    resources which could be better spent elsewhere, no question.
    But other times, a certain level of overengineering is not just
    good practice, it's mandatory. In the real world, for example,
    it's not "overengineering" to build a structure to withstand a
    severe storm. To build a house that can withstand exactly the
    weather conditions you're experiencing today, but which falls
    down during the first rain or windstorm, would be folly.

    > Portability is a feature of code. Thinking about portability
    > to machine with 9 bit bytes or 2 stacks or no stack or 6 stacks
    > is a waste of time...

    I don't think anyone here is advocating always writing code which
    tries to be portable to machines with 9 bit bytes. (Personally,
    I don't even know how to.) Your other examples are even more
    absurd, since no C program (let alone a portable one) can even
    tell how many stacks there might be.

    > Writing 100% ANSI C when you are not in a special circumstance
    > (like the one I listed above) is considered speculative generality...
    > Even if you DO have a forseeable need for it, it is considered good
    > practice to solve _only the problem at hand_.

    You keep saying, "is considered". Is considered by *who*?
    By you? By the managers at the software companies that foist upon
    the world laughably insecure, virus-infested operating systems,
    and word processors that perform functions that no sane person
    would require of them and ("Ford added savagely") go beep to tell
    you when they've done it? They can have their opinions of what
    "is considered" good practice, thank you; me, I think I'll use my own.

    > Business requirements are extremely volatile. Executives are fickle.

    Programmers who let executives tell them how to write their code
    are jointly responsible for the unmaintainable failures they go on
    to create.

                                            Steve Summit
                                            scs@eskimo.com

  • Next message: Ben Pfaff: "Re: "Mastering C Pointers"...."

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: Make Medical school FREE !!
      ... > *is* this guy any relation to Groff Conklin?) ... >>> small business) went without consideration. ... > Shortly after I set up in practice, I had to give up my largest ... and most young physicians don't even get experience ...
      (talk.politics.medicine)
    • Re: SAL, Auto_Text_IO release
      ... and being so small we can't pay the ACT support. ... government), so I have no experience with this. ... I'm not discussing nature or size of my business on ... it would be good practice to keep the older versions ...
      (comp.lang.ada)
    • Re: OT: Great resource for pet lovers and cyber litigants
      ... I know you have dreams of an internet off-shore gambling/porn business... ... Practice being more effusively earnest and unctuous. ... I just got a funny porno in ... You may send me your funny message as, oddly enough, I'm currently I'm working on an expose' on the porn business. ...
      (rec.music.classical.guitar)
    • Re: Buying an existing practice...
      ... you're likely to lose a few patients who ... > And I would guess that the number of patients lost will be considerably ... likely lost to the practice. ... This is the main difficulty in selling any small business. ...
      (sci.med.dentistry)