> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2015 14:19:10 -0400 From: Tom Marchant > <m42tom-ibmm...@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: BXLE considered harmful On Thu, > 8 Oct 2015 10:29:47 -0600, Paul Gilmartin wrote: >> >So, should every implied register reference be documented in situ, perhaps >> >by a line comment? > I say "no". ...
Agreed > > Apparently it was a point that Brent completely missed. The value of the > cross-reference is not in understanding a particular line of code, but for > finding where a register is used, and where it is changed. If I have a > section of code where I want to use an additional register, I can look at > every instruction in that section to see which registers are used, or I can > use the cross-reference. > I didn't miss the point at all. I was talking exclusively about readability, so the reader can understand the code as quickly as possible, and empathise with it. Of course the register cross-reference is useful (didn't have that in 1968!), both for writing and reading, but for quick reading it's as intrusive as an endnote reference in a book. And when you say "where I want to use an additional register", that's fine, but you're talking about writing code, whereas I was talking about reading. Brent Longborough Sent from my typewriter -- draw your own conclusions
