1237d00cd6d3
c_echo



Hello Bob - 

BS> I inadvertently deleted some messages relating to this
BS> thread - initially a discussion of ini.c from SNIPPETS. 

BS> All of the points in this thread have been well taken.
BS> Taking the larger view, something should be obvious. One
BS> hazard of a compact, terse language like C is that
BS> programmers find themselves in "Name That Tune" style
BS> contests for bragging rights to the tersest code. (If
BS> you're too young to remember "Name That Tune", don't worry
BS> about it - it was an old radio, and later TV, game show.) 

I vaguely remember Groucho Marx hosting a show like that and
then I _think_ his announcer took it over for awhile when
Groucho retired? 

BS> The point is that after the first few postings, most of the
BS> effort went into making the code visibly smaller. The
BS> difference in timing between the slowest and fastest is
BS> probably inconsequential for most applications. The
BS> function, trimming trailing whitespace from a string, is
BS> furthermore an almost ideal example of a function that, if
BS> it's too slow, should be rewritten in assembly for maximum
BS> improvement. 

BS> Given this perspective, I'd argue that the code that is
BS> most readable with the most obvious algorithm should be
BS> preferred, based solely on its maintainability. 

Considering where we find ourselves today with processors so
fast I've stopped comparing 'cycles' for ASM instructions as
irrelevant for modern hardware I would have to wholeheartedly
agree with your observation. On modern hardware COBOL could
manage telecom apps. ;-) 

I have already mentioned that self-documenting code is
preferable here to me when determining what code is 'best'
where I have choices to make from multiple sources. 

I would add one other observation that error trapping gets
trampled in the 'need for speed' and an archive such as
snippets (particularly for embedded work) should have
error-trapping as it's secondary focal point I would think? 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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