Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 24 Aug 2001 17:53:02 -0700 (PDT) | From | Brad Chapman <> | Subject | Re: [IDEA+RFC] Possible solution for min()/max() war |
| |
--- Alexander Viro <viro@math.psu.edu> wrote: > On Fri, 24 Aug 2001, Brad Chapman wrote: > > > > What do you think, sir? > > > > > > Use different inline functions for signed and unsigned. > > > Explicitly. > > > > OK. That sounds reasonable, but do we want to do another forced > > change, or do we want to hide it? That seems to be the root of the problem: > > keeping the same API but making it work _right_. > > Existing API is wrong. "Hiding" is precisely what's wrong here - we > use the same name for two subtly different functions.
Mr. Viro,
OK. The existing API is wrong and the new min()/max() macros are the right way to properly compare values. However, we could always add a config option to enable a compatibility macro, which would use typeof() on one of the two variables and then call the real min()/max(). Something like this (just an example):
#ifdef CONFIG_ALLOW_COMPAT_MINMAX #define proper_min(t, a, b) ((t)(a) < (t)(b) ? (a) : (b)) #define proper_max(t, a, b) ((t)(a) > (t)(b) ? (a) : (b)) #define min(a, b) proper_min(typeof(a), a, b) #define max(a, b) proper_max(typeof(a), a, b) #else #define min(t, a, b) ((t)(a) < (t)(b) ? (a) : (b)) #define max(t, a, b) ((t)(a) < (t)(b) ? (a) : (b)) #endif
Unfortunately, this would violate your idea that "hiding" the real code behind compatibility stuff is C++esque, and, IYO, an Evil Thing(tm). That just leaves me with one question to everybody:
<rant type="question" intensity="30%"> Why did Linus change this out of /dev/null and suddenly run off!? </rant>
Brad
===== Brad Chapman
Permanent e-mail: kakadu_croc@yahoo.com Current e-mail: kakadu@adelphia.net Alternate e-mail: kakadu@netscape.net
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |