C's syntax

[Delaney, Timothy]

You are kidding aren't you? One thing I've learned in my time is that people
don't stop making the same mistakes over and over. The difference is that
when the error occurs you are able to identify the error immediately (oh
hell ... I know what that is ... it's a typo ... I've put an assignment
instead of a comparison ...).

Obviously, this only works if you are making localised changes, not
monolithic ones. For monolithic changes it's even *more* important.

Anything which is capable of reducing the number of errors which don't
*need* to be caught by the compiler (and that you have the discipline to
stick with) or that is going to change a compiler *warning* to a compiler
*error* is a Good Thing (TM).

> > It's a good coding habit to get into, to ensure that particular
> > slip will be caught by any standard compiler, rather than relying
> > on specific warning-relater features that NOT all compilers have.
> 
> It is largely unnecessary.  It is a novice programming error, one that
> actual programmers do not make unless they are very green.  Given that
> any reasonable compiler will warn about such constructs, 
> making a major
> change in style for an error that advanced programmers do not make is
> overkill, to say the least.

Tim Delaney
Avaya Australia