Re: uncommon shell code

From: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
Date: Sep 23, 2005, 09:00 UTC
Message-ID: <7vwtl8duqj.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net>
In-Reply-To: <72499e3b05092301322a145e52@mail.gmail.com>

Robert Watson <robert.oo.watson@gmail.com> writes:

> Well, it's fine now that I know what it is.  But it hurts
> readability, and probably it's a good idea to simplify it.

I try to stay away from style discussion, but readability is always relative and personal. Things like 'while case $# in ..." is an idiom for some but not for others -- and I am included in the former group of people (unfortunately). In any case, 'while test $# != 0' is not too much of a simplification anyway.

> Any reasonable shell should built-in test(1)?

Correct. The idiom comes from performance issues -- lack of built in test long ago -- and that issue is not relevant anymore. But the pattern being an idiom for some still is.

Having said that, I do not feel too strong about enforcing _my_ style. I _do_ feel somewhat strong about consistency, so if somebody wants to update them, without dropping the ball in the middle, it is very likely that I can be persuaded to take a series of patches to modernize them.