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Similar macros like "CONST_INT" in product code. Does it deserve this?
Thank you for your time.


/* a.h ************************************************** *********/
#ifndef CONST_INT
#define CONST_INT(name, value) extern const int name
#endif
#ifndef CONST_DBL
#define CONST_DBL(name, value) extern const double name
#endif
#ifndef CONST_STR
#define CONST_STR(name, value) extern const char *name
#endif
/*more defs...*/


CONST_INT(age, 1;
CONST_DBL(len, 19.9);
CONST_STR(usenet, "clc");
/*more consts...*/


/* a.c ************************************************** *********/
#include <stdio.h>
#include "a.h"

CONST_INT(age, 1 = 18;
CONST_DBL(len, 19.9) = 19.9;
CONST_STR(usenet, "clc") = "clc";
/*more consts...*/

int a(void){
printf("%d, %f, %s\n", age, len, usenet);
/*more stuff*/
return 0;
}

lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com wrote:
> Similar macros like "CONST_INT" in product code. Does it deserve this?
> Thank you for your time.
>
>
> /* a.h ************************************************** *********/
> #ifndef CONST_INT
> #define CONST_INT(name, value) extern const int name
> #endif
> #ifndef CONST_DBL
> #define CONST_DBL(name, value) extern const double name
> #endif
> #ifndef CONST_STR
> #define CONST_STR(name, value) extern const char *name
> #endif
> /*more defs...*/
>
>
> CONST_INT(age, 1;
> CONST_DBL(len, 19.9);
> CONST_STR(usenet, "clc");
> /*more consts...*/
>
>
> /* a.c ************************************************** *********/
> #include <stdio.h>
> #include "a.h"
>
> CONST_INT(age, 1 = 18;
> CONST_DBL(len, 19.9) = 19.9;
> CONST_STR(usenet, "clc") = "clc";
> /*more consts...*/
>
> int a(void){
> printf("%d, %f, %s\n", age, len, usenet);
> /*more stuff*/
> return 0;
> }

Looks silly: Why specify each value twice? I suspect
you've overlooked a set of alternative definitions of the
macros, that look something like

CONST_INT(name value) const int name = (value)

.... the idea being to put `CONST_INT(age, 1;' in a lot
of files (probably by way of #include), where most use
the first CONST_INT definition and exactly one uses the
second.

--

On Feb 28, 11:35 pm, Eric Sosman <Eric.Sos...@sun.com> wrote:
> lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com wrote:
> > Similar macros like "CONST_INT" in product code. Does it deserve this?
> > Thank you for your time.
>
> > /* a.h ************************************************** *********/
> > #ifndef CONST_INT
> > #define CONST_INT(name, value) extern const int name
> > #endif
> > #ifndef CONST_DBL
> > #define CONST_DBL(name, value) extern const double name
> > #endif
> > #ifndef CONST_STR
> > #define CONST_STR(name, value) extern const char *name
> > #endif
> > /*more defs...*/
>
> > CONST_INT(age, 1;
> > CONST_DBL(len, 19.9);
> > CONST_STR(usenet, "clc");
> > /*more consts...*/
>
> > /* a.c ************************************************** *********/
> > #include <stdio.h>
> > #include "a.h"
>
> > CONST_INT(age, 1 = 18;
> > CONST_DBL(len, 19.9) = 19.9;
> > CONST_STR(usenet, "clc") = "clc";
> > /*more consts...*/
>
> > int a(void){
> > printf("%d, %f, %s\n", age, len, usenet);
> > /*more stuff*/
> > return 0;
> > }
>
> Looks silly: Why specify each value twice? I suspect
> you've overlooked a set of alternative definitions of the
> macros, that look something like
>
> CONST_INT(name value) const int name = (value)

I've paied special attention on this. They just don't have the "value"
arg in the macro bodies. I guess the literal values in the
declarations in the header are just like comments.

lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Feb 28, 11:35 pm, Eric Sosman <Eric.Sos...@sun.com> wrote:
>> lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> Similar macros like "CONST_INT" in product code. Does it deserve this?
>>> Thank you for your time.
>>> /* a.h ************************************************** *********/
>>> #ifndef CONST_INT
>>> #define CONST_INT(name, value) extern const int name
>>> #endif
>>> #ifndef CONST_DBL
>>> #define CONST_DBL(name, value) extern const double name
>>> #endif
>>> #ifndef CONST_STR
>>> #define CONST_STR(name, value) extern const char *name
>>> #endif
>>> /*more defs...*/
>>> CONST_INT(age, 1;
>>> CONST_DBL(len, 19.9);
>>> CONST_STR(usenet, "clc");
>>> /*more consts...*/
>>> /* a.c ************************************************** *********/
>>> #include <stdio.h>
>>> #include "a.h"
>>> CONST_INT(age, 1 = 18;
>>> CONST_DBL(len, 19.9) = 19.9;
>>> CONST_STR(usenet, "clc") = "clc";
>>> /*more consts...*/
>>> int a(void){
>>> printf("%d, %f, %s\n", age, len, usenet);
>>> /*more stuff*/
>>> return 0;
>>> }
>> Looks silly: Why specify each value twice? I suspect
>> you've overlooked a set of alternative definitions of the
>> macros, that look something like
>>
>> CONST_INT(name value) const int name = (value)
>
> I've paied special attention on this. They just don't have the "value"
> arg in the macro bodies. I guess the literal values in the
> declarations in the header are just like comments.

What has probably happened is that one programmer has written the header
file and also written something like

#define CONST_INT(name,value) const int name = value;
/* ... define other CONST_* macros */
#include "a.h"

in one of the source files, which is a reasonable way to initialize the
constant variables in one module and reference in several.

/Another/ programmer, not understanding the design, must have misapplied
this technique to another piece of code, resulting in the mishmash you are
looking at.

--
Thad