Re: [Sbcl-devel] C coding style.

[Peter M. <pm...@fr...>]

On Tue, Sep 13 2016, Dmitry Igrishin wrote:

>> 1. Most important. Cleanup in one place (the code) just moves the mess
>> to another place (revision control system log). It does not add any
>> real functionality but it adds real difficulty when one wants to know
>> why some feature which worked year ago does not work anymore in the
>> latest release.

> You're wrong. The "cleanup" and "mess" are opposite in principle.

Hi Dmitry,

It might be possible, that you didn't understand the above paragraph.


> the "messy code" [...] is unreadable for potentially new contributors.

"Unreadable" is exaggerated. Better: "more difficult to understand".


> And instead of "yes, please, the contributions are welcome, it is
> public domain..." I see "no, go away, we don't need your
> contributions, there are more pressing problems".

Should the developers lie to you just by courtesy?


>> 5. You are so busy and have no much time to work on SBCL. You do not
>> understand the code well yet. Dmitry has written directly that he did
>> not read the code. You can not "clean up" in the proper sense until
>> you understand the code you are cleaning up.
> This is why the cleanup is suggested -- the clean code is much more
> readable and understandable than the mess.

Just a suggestion, that would
- render the code more readable and understandable
- do no harm to the code
- allow you to read and understand the code
- allow you to contribute:
You add comments wherever needed for better comprehension and to show
how the code could be enhanced.

-- 
           Peter