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Date:      Thu, 4 Oct 2001 00:33:14 +0300
From:      Giorgos Keramidas <charon@labs.gr>
To:        Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>
Cc:        freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: code density vs readability
Message-ID:  <20011004003314.B8306@hades.hell.gr>
In-Reply-To: <20011003213024.A660@lpt.ens.fr>
References:  <20011002213051.A28111@lpt.ens.fr> <Pine.BSI.4.20.0110021606080.7990-100000@brain.mics.net> <20011002214655.A1713@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <3BBB64CD.7B3A2C86@mindspring.com> <20011003213024.A660@lpt.ens.fr>

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Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> wrote:
> Terry Lambert said on Oct  3, 2001 at 12:19:41:
> > > <rant>
> > > Why do some people, especially advanced programmers, hate this feature
> > > so much?  Isn't it great for catching misspellings before compiling, and
> > > for helping the eye locate a target?  It also seems good for helping the
> > > mind quickly understand the structure of the code.  It simply includes
> > > more valuable information.  I realize it can be overdone, but since you
> > > can configure it any way you like, why is it so bad?  Why does
> > > everything that makes programming easier get labeled a 'crutch' at some
> > > point?  I mean, LINT could be called a remedy for poor programming
> > > skills in the first place, but many accomplished programmers us it,
> > > correct?  </rant>
> > 
> > I think it's because we do things like this:
> > 
> > 	main(int ac, char *av[])
> > 	{
> > 	}
> 
> I think if you wrote a lot of math code, with expressions like
> 
> 	q[i]=pow(cutoff,expon)*
>                    pow(1.0/(SQR(sin(pi*(i+1.0)/L))+SQR(cutoff)),expon/2.0);

Well, in that case, I prefer LISP for it's instantly enlightening syntax:

	(setf (aref q i)
	  (* (expt cutoff expon)
	     (expt (/ 1.0
		      (+ (sqrt (sin (/ (* pi (+ i 1.0))
				       L)))
			 (sqrt cutoff)))
		   (/ expon 2.0))))

/me runs to hide.

> (or worse) you'd find it more useful to have an editor with syntax
> highlighting...

I think you mean parenthesis matching here, but I'll let it pass, since most
descent editors do have this.  VI has it bound to %, Emacs uses visual hints
to show matching parentheses/braces/brackets, hell even joe(1) from the ports
has it bound to ^G.

-giorgos


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