Re: [PATCH] Make gc a builtin.

From: Andy Parkins <andyparkins@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 14, 2007, 11:48 UTC
Message-ID: <200703141148.12364.andyparkins@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <7vps7caxjb.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>

On Wednesday 2007 March 14 11:12, Junio C Hamano wrote:

> There is a difference between having a readily greppable and
> lessable copy handy to study at your own initiative, and being
> able to retrieve to review only after being told.

Well I was only joking really.

> You could argue that we can all do that with git-grep and
> git-less ;-).

Definitely. git is so good at this sort of stuff that encouraging the retention of commented out code is just filling up source files with junk.

In the old days, before version control, I would often have files with

#if 0 // This is how I used to do it // ... #endif

These days I comment it out, then after a few successful commits it gets removed from the source file. Git makes my code cleaner and clearer as it's not filled with obsolete junk. I am always secure in the knowledge that I can go back and look if I want. The same is true, I think, for shell script replaced with C code.

What will you do if in the future the C gets a feature that wasn't in the shell code - should the shell code be updated? If you don't then the comment is a lie, if you do then it's a maintenance nightmare.

Chuck it and be happy it's chucked. A rule for life. I should write fortune cookies.

Andy

-- 
Dr Andy Parkins, M Eng (hons), MIET
andyparkins@gmail.com