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| From | Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.c |
| Subject | Re: John McCarthy died today. |
| Date | 2011-11-08 14:19 -0800 |
| Organization | None to speak of |
| Message-ID | <ln7h3acl4i.fsf@nuthaus.mib.org> (permalink) |
| References | (7 earlier) <j9216t$ss2$1@dont-email.me> <20111104214808.434@kylheku.com> <j98dee$fmo$1@dont-email.me> <ln1utjegei.fsf@nuthaus.mib.org> <8a3ee570-307b-46b4-8e39-996082e716fc@s5g2000vbe.googlegroups.com> |
Malcolm McLean <malcolm.mclean5@btinternet.com> writes:
> On Nov 8, 12:06 am, Keith Thompson <ks...@mib.org> wrote:
>> Define ":=" as an alias for "=", the simple assignment operator.
>> Keep "=" and "==" as they are. Provide an *optional* method
>> (perhaps a new #pragma) to turn on a warning for any use of "=".
>>
> Or you could make the warning non-optional.
>
> A utility to go through old C code changing every incidence of "=" to
> ":=" would be quite simple to write, and would ship with every new
> compiler.
Are you serious?
Even if I thought it was a good idea, a language change that would
require modifying practically every C source file ever written
would never be accepted.
Modifying source files, even mechanically, is never a zero-cost
operation. Source control systems would show *huge* diffs between
successive versions of the same file. Suppose, for example,
that foo.c version 1 uses "=" for assignment, version 2 makes
some functional changes (10 lines changed), version 3 changes
all the "=" to ":=" (with no other changes), and version 4 makes
some more functional changes (7 lines changed). Imagine trying
to compare versions 1 and 4 to see what the actual changes were.
(No, we're not going to modify every diff tool in existence to
ignore "=" vs. ":=".) And that's assuming the "=" to ":=" change
isn't combined with other modifications.
And version 4 will not compile with earlier compilers. Now that I
think about it, that's a very strong argument against my original
idea.
Using "=" for assignment was not, in my opinion, a good idea. Any
attempt to change it now would be far worse.
--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"
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