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From: Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer
Subject: Re: Curious compiler warning
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:18:57 -0800
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On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:05:25 +0100, "Gavino" <invalid@invalid.invalid>
wrote:

>"Roedy Green" <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> wrote in message
>news:dnlqg711uq7njg5bi19fhu76cc6ploibb9@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 04:55:00 +0000 (UTC), Novice <novice@example..com>
>> wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
>>
>> >I'm just wondering why the compiler is so offended by "start--"....
>>
>> The compiler worries when you compute something and don't use the
>> result.  If you had said    bar( --start )    it would be happy since
>> the incremented start is passed to bar.
>
>No. This would produce the same warning.
>
>It's nothing to do with not using the result - in the original example, the
>result *was* used. It's simply that assigning to a method parameter value is
>considered 'bad style', that's all.

     Oh, my.  Bad style.  That is bad, isn't it?  I am wearing a dark
grey sweater and medium brown pants.  Is anyone's compiler concerned
about my style?

     "style" and "best practices" get bandied about as if they are
sacred.  Often, they are merely someone's opinion, and not necessarily
a well-thought-out one either.

     If a parameter is call-by-value, it is available for modification
in many languages.  Such code is shorter, too.  I prefer a concise
style.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko