Re: [rt2x00-users] [PATCH 4/9] rt2x00: Remove rt2800 version constants.

[Gertjan van Wingerde <gwingerde@gmail.com>]

On 04/09/10 23:53, Benoit PAPILLAULT wrote:
> Ivo van Doorn a écrit :
>> On Thursday 08 April 2010, Gertjan van Wingerde wrote:
>>  
>>> The rt2800 version constants are inconsistent, and the version number
>>> don't
>>> mean a lot of things anyway. Use the literal values in the code
>>> instead of
>>> some sort of fabricated version name macro.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Gertjan van Wingerde <gwingerde@gmail.com>
>>>     
>>
>> Perhaps a more elegant way of using and defining needs to be found.
>> But at least the defined show what the purpose for the values is
>> rather then having magical values spread around the code.
>>
>> Ivo
>>
>>   
> Agreed, it's a lot better to avoid hardcoded value. #define adds a
> meaning to the numeric value and if such define needs to be changed,
> there's only one place to change, avoiding bugs by duplicating hardcoded
> values and only changing one instance.
> 
> Even, #define MCS_0 0 is useful :-)
> 

To be honest, I don't think that constants with meaningless names are better
or useful.

If a constant is used it should have a meaningful name, otherwise it is just
as bad as using a magical value. The only change is that it now is a magical
name. IMHO that actually worsens the situation as code readers will start
thinking about what that name actually means.

However, I think I found some sort of scheme that can be used for the version
numbers. See my other email to the mailing list.

---
Gertjan.