Re: GSoC 2016: applications open, deadline = Fri, 19/2

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Feb 22, 2016, 21:42 UTC
Message-ID: <20160222214246.GE15595@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <vpqziutkps7.fsf@anie.imag.fr>

On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 11:22:48AM +0100, Matthieu Moy wrote:

Show 8 quoted lines

> > Idea for microprojects. If you compile using gcc with -Wshadow, it
> > spots local variables that shadow another local or global variables.
> > These are usually bad because it makes it's easy to make mistakes when
> > changing the code.
> 
> I hade a look an a few instances of the warning, and all of them were
> bad (sometimes even suspicious, I wouldn't be surprised if we found real
> bugs hunting these down).

I looked at a handful, too, and many looked fine (e.g., shadowing an overly-broadly-named global parameter with a function parameter). Not that I'm against squelching them. There's definitely potential for confusion, and I won't be surprised either if there's a real bug lurking in there (which we can't find because of the number of false positives).

But...

Show 9 quoted lines

> > _If_ you agree shadow vars are bad and should be exterminated,
> > 'master' has 94 warnings spreading over 49 files. A student can pick
> > _one_ file and try to fix all warnings in that file. There are many
> > possible approaches (rename, combine vars, change scope, even
> > restructure/kill global vars..), plenty of room for discussion.
> 
> +1.
> 
> Are there counter-arguments to this?

I agree that there are a lot of different ways to resolve each instance, and it will vary from case to case. I think the original point of a microproject was to do something really easy and not contentious, so that the student could get familiar with all of the other parts of the cycle: writing a commit message, formatting the patch, posting to the list, etc.

It seems like this has a high chance of frustrating students as they get embroiled in back-and-forth review. I dunno. Maybe it should be marked with a star as a "challenge" microproject. :)

-Peff