Thread: Question about macros

Originally Posted by EVOEx

To add to this (okay, so Desolation just pointed this out, some other fact I will point out)...
USE WARNINGS (and a proper compiler).
If you do something like:

Code:

if(something = NULL)

Many compilers generate warnings at pedantic level, requesting you to put the expression in parenthesises to indicate it was actually what you wanted.

Warning Level 4 is all you need on Visual Studio to give you this warning.

Originally Posted by laserlight

Just to clarify: under what situations did your first company's coding standard mandate the comparison with a boolean literal?

In all cases.
I think it was mostly to prevent confusing code like:

Code:

if ( something != false )

where they wanted it to be this instead:

Code:

if ( something == true )

which I agree with completely.
And also for consistency.

They also required us to compile with the highest warning levels and to select the "Treat Warnings as Errors" option.

Originally Posted by cpjust

In all cases.

hmm... but wouldn't that mean that in the case of a sentinel value, instead of writing:

Code:

bool is_valid = false;
// ...
if (is_valid)
// ...

you would have to write:

Code:

bool is_valid = false;
// ...
if (is_valid == true)
// ...

Originally Posted by laserlight

hmm... but wouldn't that mean that in the case of a sentinel value, instead of writing:

Code:

bool is_valid = false;
// ...
if (is_valid)
// ...

you would have to write:

Code:

bool is_valid = false;
// ...
if (is_valid == true)
// ...

That's right.
I think it's a lot easier to see:

Code:

if ( blah == false )

than it is to see:

Code:

if ( !blah )

especially on a friday evening when you barely got any sleep all week...

Originally Posted by cpjust

That's right.
I think it's a lot easier to see:

That seems like a little of a straw man since "blah" is a poor name. With a descriptive name, I find that having to parse the extra "== true" or "== false" is harder, "especially on a friday evening when you barely got any sleep all week..."
Compare "if the input is valid" and "if the input is not valid" with "if it is true that the input is valid" and "if it is false that the input is valid".