FreeTDS Development Group

["James K. Lowden" <jklowden AT schemamania.org>]

I want to make two changes to the sources, unless someone objects.  

1.

We have many constructions like:

        if (cd != (iconv_t) - 1)

which is weird.  It looks like we're subtracting 1 from iconv_t.  It
should be:

        if (cd != (iconv_t)-1)
        
but even that's not very good.  I say we need an entry in tdsiconv.h:

        static const iconv_t INVALID_DESCRIPTOR = (iconv_t)-1;

so we can say:

        if (cd != INVALID_DESCRIPTOR)

which is what we mean.  

2.

Our comment blocks are inconsistently formatted.  I like BSD "kernel
normal form":

        /*
         * Multiline comments are formatted like this, 
         * and phrased as sentences.
         */

If you haven't read Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information", you should; everyone should.  (It sounds like a tome, I
know, but it's actually a riff.)  One of his principles is that, in
diplaying information, the data:nondata ratio should be kept as high as
possible.  KNF style makes comments obvious without extraneous elements. 
It's also easier to modify than a "boxed" style.  

Further information on KNF:

http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/kernel/programming.html#knf

+++

I have one other change I think we should adopt:  We should use enums more
than we do, and lean on the preprocessor less.  For instance, to pick on a
certain large patch recently submitted:

+#define TDS_SP_CURSOR          1
+#define TDS_SP_CURSOROPEN      2
+#define TDS_SP_CURSORPREPARE   3
[...]

These are enumerated stored procedure ids, and are better constructed as:

typedef enum _stored_procedure_id {
          TDS_SP_CURSOR = 1
        , TDS_SP_CURSOROPEN = 2
        , TDS_SP_CURSORPREPARE = 3
        [...]
} stored_procedure_id;

enums are easier (i.e., possible) for debuggers and compilers to vet and
decode.  There are times when we can't use them, usually because they're
equivalent to unsigned ints, and we need negative numbers or chars or
something.  But when we can use them, we're better off if we do.  

Comments invited.

--jkl