Re: A bug in mark_constants () in varasm.c

[Jeffrey A Law <law at cygnus dot com>]

  In message <199803231747.JAA23318@atrus.synopsys.com>you write:
  > Pal Engstad writes:
  > > > Linus Torvalds requires that all code in the source is using a tab
  > > > length of 8 spaces, and he also states that you are a bad programmer
  > > > if you write code with more than 3 indentation levels.
  > 
  > Linus has also said that the GNU coding standards should be burned.
  > Since gcc uses the GNU coding standards, it isn't going to make Linus
  > happy.  The gcc developers aren't going to reject the GNU coding
  > standards because Linus says so.
No particular one is better than the other -- and trying to convince
folks that one is better than the other is an exercise in futility.
It is entirely a matter of personal taste.

egcs uses the GNU coding standards and that's highly unlikely to
change.

What is important is that there is *some* coding standard for a
project of this size.  Most of the actual details of the standard
don't matter, just the fact that a standard exists, is documented
and is followed.


  > In fairness to Linus, much of gcc is difficult to follow and to maintain
  > in part because many of the functions are too large (especially with the
  > #ifdefs mixed in).  Furthermore, since many of the algorithms turned on at
  > higher optimization levels cost O(n^2) or even O(n^3) in the size of the
  > function, gcc would bootstrap faster if these were cut down a bit.  And
  > egcs was supposed to be about the gcc developers learning from the success
  > of Linux, after all.
Can't argue with any of this :-)

  > > Irrelevant - a kernel is a lot simpler than an optimizing compiler,
  > > in terms of complexity of algorithms and data structures.
  > 
  > Well, let's say that there is some relevance (smaller functions make
  > for ease of understanding and maintainance), but nevertheless Per is
  > right: gcc is vastly more complicated than the Linux kernel.
Depends on what you're doing.  Having spent time in both the OS
development world and the compiler development world, some aspects of
compiler development are *far* easier -- mostly in areas related to
debugging and not having to deal with async events (like interrrupts)

jeff