Posted by Tim Streater on 12/18/06 11:31

In article <bPidnYclbqY10B7YnZ2dnUVZ_u63nZ2d@comcast.com>,
Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> wrote:

> Tim Streater wrote:

[...]

> > If you're doing a test, do a test. If you're sending a packet, send a
> > packet. These are distinct actions that should be separated.
> >
> > That's my style, at any rate.
> >
> > -- tim
>
> Why? When it makes the code more complicated and harder to understand?

Easier is the word you're looking for. Obviously a typo on your part :-)

> It is a test - a test as to whether the action completed successfully or
> not. But this concept is harder for some old-time programmers to grasp.

But the test has side-effects. That is my point.

> Just like in my classes - COBOL and FORTRAN programmers had a lot harder
> time grasping the concept of pointers as implemented in C than new
> programmers did.

Never did Cobol, thank goodness. Haven't touched Fortran since 1978.
Since then its been BCPL, C (in large quantities), Z80 assm, and PHP and
JavaScript more recently.

-- tim

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