Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 06:26:03 -0500 From: Clark Gaylord <gaylord@dirtcheapemail.com> To: Jon <comepu@gmail.com>, freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: hello, everyone , i have another question Message-ID: <437B174B.1050405@dirtcheapemail.com> In-Reply-To: <002e01c5ea94$35f05750$ba00a8c0@wtfzhangj> References: <002e01c5ea94$35f05750$ba00a8c0@wtfzhangj>
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Jon wrote: >I offten discover what such "/* XXX */ " annotate in source code of freebsd. what mean is "XXX"? > > These are "equivocation marks". They are placeholders for "I'm not sure I want to do this and want an easy way to find it again so I can undo it." Usually the intention is to come back and remove the equivocation marks once the code has passed some test (like: "it compiled! yea!") In many cases, they may be entirely vestigial, but in others the author may have felt that the solution still wasn't right, even though it worked, and wanted a visual clue to that effect for the reader. It is fair to say that the probability of bonehead code is somewhat higher in the vicinity of these marks. I usually initial and date my equivocation marks to help myself (and others) recognize vestiges, but this is an uncommon practice (unfortunately). In public repositories some people won't sign to protect themselves from embarrassment to the casual reader. --ckg
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