On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 9:48 AM Otto Moerbeek <o...@drijf.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 10:01:02AM -0600, Gavin Howard wrote: > > > Otto, > > > > > I think it is interesting. As for the incompatibilites, my memory says > > > I followed the original dc and bc when deciding on those (GNU chose to > > > differs in these cases). Bit it has been 18 years since I wrote the > > > current versions, so I might misrememeber. > > > > I think that makes sense to me. Unfortunately, when I was building my > > dc, I couldn't find any mention in the OpenBSD man pages, which I used > > to ensure as much compatibility as I could, that arrays and registers > > were not separate. Well, there was one (the `;` command mentions > > registers, but the `:` command does not, so I thought that was a typo). > > > > Regarding the 0 having length 0 or 1, that was a decision I agonized > > over. My dad, who is a mathematician, said that it could go either way. > > Unfortunately for me, if this is a showstopper incompatibility (and it > > might be based on how the test suite uses `length()` and `Z`), I do > > think I would keep it as it is and accept that OpenBSD will not want my > > bc(1) and dc(1). > > It looks like GNU dc and bc do not agree: > heh. while i know what Theo means -- and his is also a valid philosophical standpoint -- this kind of thing is one reason why i personally prefer fewer implementations of things and more shared code between them :-) at least it leads to more consistency, and to having fewer places to fix. (since i think we've all had enough counterexamples to not believe that whole "many eyes" thing, the real question is "how easily/quickly can you make fixes, and how easily/quickly can you distribute them?"... given how few eyes are actually open, i'd rather have them all looking at the same set of problems :-( ) > $ dc -V > dc (GNU bc 1.06) 1.3 > > Copyright 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. > This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There > is NO > warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, > to the extent permitted by law. > iMac:~ otto$ dc > 0Zp > 0 > > and > > $ bc > bc 1.06 > Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. > This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. > For details type `warranty'. > length(0) > 1 > > I confirmed the original dc by Morris and Cherry indeed print 0 for > the above test case. > > -Otto > > > > > As for moving to your version, I have no opinion yet. I have some > > > attachment to the current code, but not so strong that I am opposing > > > replacement upfront. OTOH the current implementaion is almost > > > maintainance free for many years already. So I dunno. > > > > You have a right to have attachment to it; I have attachment to mine! > > > > In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and readable your code > > was. I usually struggle to read code written by others, but I could > > easily read yours. > > > > On that note, since last night, I thought of more disadvantages of > > moving to my bc and dc, which I feel I must mention. > > > > More disadvantages: > > > > * The current dc(1) and bc(1) are from a known member of the OpenBSD > > community with many contributions. I am an unknown quantity. > > * The current dc(1) and bc(1) do not have ugly portability code that > > OpenBSD probably doesn't care about. > > * The current dc(1) and bc(1) do not have ugly code to support build > > options that OpenBSD does not care about. > > * The binary size of the OpenBSD dc(1) and bc(1) combined are 78% the > > size of mine combined (on amd64). The size of OpenBSD combined is > > 145440, and the size of mine combined are 185706. > > * The current dc(1) and bc(1) have much less source code and have been > > nearly maintenance-free for many years. Mine were started in 2018 and > > do not have as long of a track record for being low maintenance. > > > > > I'll take a look at your code soon and maybe other devs have opinions. > > > > Thank you very much! > > > > Gavin Howard > > > >
