Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Tim Rentsch Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: .5 against 0.5f Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:42:26 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 57 Message-ID: <86se1oku25.fsf@linuxsc.com> References: <11bpvs7$1e6kc$2@dont-email.me> <11bqnvh$1np7s$1@dont-email.me> <11br5td$1to7l$1@dont-email.me> <11br792$1u7e5$1@dont-email.me> <11brgqf$21170$2@dont-email.me> <11brkco$21oj5$1@dont-email.me> <11bs4tj$26daj$1@dont-email.me> <11bs613$26knh$1@dont-email.me> <11bt7ff$2i0ag$1@dont-email.me> <11btm2a$2ojn1$2@kst.eternal-september.org> <11bttrp$2qvg6$1@dont-email.me> <11bu12l$2rgo2$4@kst.eternal-september.org> <11bu3kk$2svh8$1@dont-email.me> <868q3hmie0.fsf@linuxsc.com> <11bu8oi$2up7m$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:42:30 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; logging-data="3974705"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/5VlOXZV0NTqpWXaEUilU+vC2RONIoOzI="; posting-host="a9c9791c9dd02c83b2c564a620bcf3c6" User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:sKrpEJa1cz3/OoZ1C1gZ5X7bnwQ= sha1:DFVM3SBGSAZNBs6TMLJ+TTSFetY= sha256:+PeKtjYuS77e0kaQ5yE2BrPLOJBbr+0vO7DQy/PsJco= sha1:k+svJ4AYmuFhGrOdkfGnz/07tT0= sha256:MomUcmrvIs6mtzaMQElIjR7YmAYRRYrZpXoc4bqnqxM= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:403802 "Steven G. Kargl" writes: > On Wed, 28 Oct 2026 17:59:19 -0700, Tim Rentsch wrote: > >> "Steven G. Kargl" writes: >> >>> On Wed, 28 Oct 2026 16:39:00 -0700, Keith Thompson wrote: >>> >>>> (Also, you misspelled "ROFL", and you don't need parentheses on the >>>> return statement, particularly if you dislike fluff.) >>> >>> Yeah, I was laugh too hard while typing ;-) >>> >>> Parentheses is a habit from BSD kernel source file style guide. >> >> Now is a good time to start unlearning that habit. > > Why? What harm do the parentheses cause? Wrong question. The important question is what benefit do they give? Granted, there may be circumstances where there is some benefit. But what benefit justifies using parentheses in *all* circumstances? > Unlearning is not likely to happen. I've been a long-time > contributor to FreeBSD, and have no plans to stop. Feel > free to check the git history on FreeBSD libm sources. > My finger prints are all over the code. So, yeah, I know > a enough about floating point arithmetic and C standard > requirements to be dangerous. > >>> % man 9 style >>> ... >>> >>> Values in return statements should be enclosed in parentheses. >>> >>> >>> I also have debugging macros RETURNI() that require parens. >> >> That strengthens the motivation not to use parentheses with >> return statements, to emphasize that they are different from >> the macros. > > Do you ignore the style requirements of all the projects > that you may have worked on, and simply use whatever > your personal preferences are? Please note what I said. I did not say never to use parentheses. What I did say is that now is a good time to start unlearning the habit of (always) using parentheses. If you're writing code destined for FreeBSD, by all means put in the extra parentheses. On the other hand, if you're writing code to put in a posting for comp.lang.c, it's more common not to use extra parentheses. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you have a compelling reason to use such redundant parentheses here in the newsgroup, please tell us what it is. Otherwise, is it you who is ignoring the style norms of the group who will be reading your code?