Re: Change #1 Considered Harmful

Bob Miller wrote:

> Jim Blandy wrote:
>
>> I guess I think it's weird to have an interface that supports the
>> feature of "I decided not to use this interface." Usually, if you're
>> not sure you want to perform an operation yet, you just don't perform
>> it.
>
>
> No, it's good to be able to create a thing without using it.
> We do it all the time with variables, for example.
>
> void foo()
> {
> int may_be_used;
>
> if (some_condition) {
> may_be_used = bar();
> if (may_be_used)
> baz();
> }
> }
>
> Wouldn't you hate to have to structure your code so you only
> "executed" declarations of those variables you actually used?

Heh. Now /that/ is a controversial statement. No, I'd l'd love it, and
in your example I'd put the declaration inside the scope of the
if-statement.

It's basically a tradeoff between the cost of creating something you may
have to throw away unused, and making sure you're really going to need it.

-- 
Brane �ibej
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