Re: [RFC PATCH v3 0/8] Remote helpers smart transport extensions

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Dec 8, 2009, 05:57 UTC
Message-ID: <20091208055735.GA9951@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <7vein635vn.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>

On Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 12:07:24PM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

> I haven't asked people why they choose to write like this:
> 
> 	char* string;
> 
> beyond "that is how we were taught and what we are used to".

I have seen it in C++ code and recommended many years ago on comp.lang.c++. The argument was something along the lines of:

  1. It's good to keep type information together, especially in C++
     where you are often doing things like using types as template
     parameters.

  2. The fact that "char* foo, bar" doesn't do what you want isn't
     relevant if you have a style guideline not to declare two variables
     on the same line (because it's easier to notice both if they each
     get their own line, and because in C++ you can declare closer to
     the point of use).

But that is me paraphrasing an argument I read on usenet almost 10 years ago, so I may be entirely misremembering (and please don't flame me; I am presenting it for anthropological curiosity, not because I believe we should use that style).

-Peff