FreeTDS Development Group

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

entropy AT freetds.org wrote:
> >     memset( ptr, len, '\0')
> > 
> > a favorite of mine, not least because '\0' is silly: the value
> > argument is defined as int.
> 
> Well the value should go in argument 2, but I don't see any problem with
> 
> '\0'.  Would you think "memset(ptr, 'x', 23)" was silly?  Would 
> "memset(ptr, 120, 23)" be clearer?  Specifying '\0' makes it explicit 
> that "this is a character", and making such things explicit makes code 
> easier to read.  

I've always understood that 'x' was both clearer than 120 and allowed for
other encodings.  So the two are really semantially different.  I predict
no one will ever invent an encoding in which '\0' != 0.  

I think of the call as "fill buffer with zeros", not "fill buffer with
that value representing the NUL terminator".  But I use the '\0' form too
myself, to keep the code consistent.  

I wonder how you would feel if GNU decided to add a warning about implicit
promotions of signed character literals in function calls?  

> I like the parens, and I easily get a headache from reading 
> too much smart-ass code written in the "lean and mean" style without 
> them.  

Agreed, they're sometimes helpful; it depends on the complexity of the
expression.  I object to the compiler's assertion that they're always
needed, which to me is clearly untrue.  

--jkl