Re: [PATCH] Various pages: SYNOPSIS: Use VLA syntax in function parameters

Alex Colomar
2022-11-29T17:19:28Z

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Hi Martin, Joseph,

On 11/29/22 18:00, Martin Uecker wrote:
> Am Dienstag, dem 29.11.2022 um 16:53 +0000 schrieb Jonathan Wakely:
>> On Tue, 29 Nov 2022 at 16:49, Joseph Myers wrote:
>>>
>>> On Tue, 29 Nov 2022, Michael Matz via Gcc wrote:
>>>
>>>> like.  But I'm generally doubtful of this whole feature within C
>>>> itself.
>>>> It serves a purpose in documentation, so in man-pages it seems
>>>> fine enough
>>>> (but then still could use a different puncuator to not be
>>>> confusable with
>>>> C syntax).
>>>
>>> In man-pages you don't need to invent syntax at all.  You can write
>>>
>>> int f(char buf[n], int n);
>>>
>>> and in the context of a man page it will be clear to readers what
>>> is
>>> meant,
>>
>> Considerably more clear than new invented syntax IMHO.
>
> True, but I think it would be a mistake to use code in
> man pages which then does not work as expected (or even
> is subtle wrong) in actual code.

Exactly. Using your proposed syntax (which was my first draft) would
have probably been the source of hidden bugs, since it might work (read
compile) in some cases, but with wrong results.

I prefer this hypothetical syntax, which at most will cause compile errors.

Cheers,

Alex

>
> Martin