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Re: [C++] named return values and return without value warnings
Mark Mitchell <mark@codesourcery.com> writes:
[...]
| In general, there are two approaches to giving warnings like "function
| does not return a value". One is to rely on the optimizer to find
| paths through the function that yields returns without a value; the
| other is simply to check whether or not the last thing in the function
| is a return statement. Historically, even outside of GCC, back-end
| folks tend to prefer the former (claiming it is more accurate);
| front-end folks tend to prefer the latter (claiming it is simpler and
| more intuitive), and that the "false positives" often really do
| indicate problems. (Example:
Wouldn't it be possible to have the wins of both worlds? That is if
then front-end already warns about the construct then the back-end has
nothing to do. Conversely the back-end may attempt to see if it could
apply its own rules in case the front-end was unable to detect the
offending construct.
-- Gaby
CodeSourcery, LLC http://www.codesourcery.com