From: Junio C Hamano Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 09:00:20 GMT Subject: Re: uncommon shell code Message-ID: <7vwtl8duqj.fsf@assigned-by-dhcp.cox.net> In-Reply-To: <72499e3b05092301322a145e52@mail.gmail.com> Robert Watson 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.