MB>
  > From a machine level point of view, you want branches to be not taken
  > more frequently than taken.  This is because taking a branch
  > always flushes the prefetch instruction queue in the Intel
  > processors, [...]
MB>

  With speculative execution and branch prediction in processors like the
  Pentium Pro, or the Cyrix 5x86 and 6x86, I don't believe that this is as
  true as it used to be.

  I sense a style war approaching, which is a pity, since it isn't really
  a stylistic problem (at least, not to me -- as I said previously).

MB>
  > Unless you are in a truly critical area of the code, it is my opinion
  > that the paramount issue is source readability.
MB>

  Indeed, and again I think that it is nitpicking to say that one is more
  legible than the other.  More complex examples, maybe.  But the cases in
  question are pretty much self-evident either way.

  > JdeBP <
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