Sam's Teach Yourself C in 24 Hour...

[wtd]

... fails in the first chapter.

Call me crazy, but I don't trust a book that encourages* programmers to do things like this:

code:

int integer_add( int x, int y ) {    int result;    result = x + y;    return result; }

* And by encouraged I mean demonstrates. One has to be exceptionally careful when teaching those new to programming. They have no sense of what is and is not ugly, because it's all new, and it's all wonderful.

[NikG]

For those of us not very quick (or maybe just me), can you explain what's wrong with that example? (other than being terribly useless...)

(Also, I should mention I'm not a c/c++ programmer so please don't yell at me for not knowing an obvious answer)

[wtd]

There is no need to declare the variable, then separate initialize it, then return it.

For one thing, it's quite possible to combine declaration and initialization.

code:

int result = x + y;

It's also possible to return the result of such an expression directly.

code:

return x + y;

[NikG]

Ahh right, I should've seen that since it applies to any language.

[ericfourfour]

Useless code is a common part of my everyday compsci class. Here are a few I've recently encountered.

Java:

static boolean getBoolean (boolean something) {     if (something == true)     {         return true;     }     return false; }

This one might be a bit harder to catch.

Java:

static int[] fillArray (int[] nums) {     System.out.println ("Enter " + nums.length + " numbers.");     get the integers and put them into the array     return nums; }

[wtd]

Actually, it is far from useless to define a function as a wrapper for standard mathematical operators. This is however not terribly apparent until one tackles a fucntional programming language, and tries to apply the lessons learned in it back to languages like C and C++.

[ericfourfour]

I didn't mean it in that way. I was talking about the extra unneeded code. In my first example it the code could have been shrunk to one line (return something). In the second example it was returning the array (there is no need to return the array because it is a pointer).

wtd wrote:

This is however not terribly apparent until one tackles a fucntional programming language

Perhaps I should pick up a functional programming language.

[wtd]

Ah, I see.

And yes, you should.

For what it's worth:

O'Caml:

code:

let integer_add x y = x + y

Or perhaps...

code:

let integer_add = (+)

[Null]

wtd, in this case I disagree with you.

I think the clearly demonstrated creation of a variable, an assignment of value to that variable, and finally a return statement are much clearer to a newbie then a single return statement. Understanding how things happen are very relevant in languages like C. The programmer is in complete control.

I only hold that opinion if the author then explains that there widely used shortcuts to accomplish the same thing (and then demonstrates them).

[wtd]

Null wrote:

I think the clearly demonstrated creation of a variable, an assignment of value to that variable, and finally a return statement are much clearer to a newbie then a single return statement. Understanding how things happen are very relevant in languages like C. The programmer is in complete control.

I only hold that opinion if the author then explains that there widely used shortcuts to accomplish the same thing (and then demonstrates them).

You are correct. However, in this case the author does not spend more than a sentence or two talking about the variable declaration.

The author also does not demonstrate that such a pattern is not strictly necessary. This type of code is pervasive.

[kiran_n444]

thankx for the tip bro, since i'm fairly new to C++ =)

[michaelp]

ericfourfour @ Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:51 pm wrote:

Useless code is a common part of my everyday compsci class. Here are a few I've recently encountered.

Java:

static boolean getBoolean (boolean something) {     if (something == true)     {         return true;     }     return false; }

It took me a while to figure why that is useless.

[wtd]

Do not necro post!