Re: [C source] Inconsistent comments on preprocessor conditionals

[Akib Azmain Turja <akib@disroot.org>]

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Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

>> The "#endif /* not FOO */" version provides the extra information that
>> there *is* an "#else" clause -- which might be helpful if the clauses
>> are spaced very far apart.  If "#endif /* FOO */" is then consistently
>> used only for cases with no "#else", some code may be (very) slightly
>> easier for people to parse.
>
> FWIW, I personally never trust whether the comment is positive or
> negative; instead the comment only tells me that it's the else/endif
> that matches the condition that has to do with FOO (as opposed to some
> other `#if` that tests something different), so the presence/absence of
> `not` doesn't make much difference for me.  Maybe it's because of a lack
> of a clear and religiously followed convention.
>
> Also, those comments tend to get out of sync with the code, of course.
>
> IOW, I'd rather not have those comments and let Emacs generate that info
> dynamically, so it's always up-to-date and reliable.
>
>
>         Stefan
>

Yes, comments are actually hints, and they can get out of sync.  But I
usually study programs relatively much new, which is written once and
the working parts are never touched again.  Comments there are usually
up to date.  But for the almost half a century old source code of Emacs,
this is not true.

-- 
Akib Azmain Turja

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