Hi Branden, On 2026-02-21T11:41:42-0600, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > Hi Alex, > > At 2026-02-21T16:02:52+0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote: > > +.SH RETURN VALUE > > +.IR s+strlen(s) . > > Too cute, in my opinion. Use English. :)
The thing is, at first I thought, am I going to repeat the same exact
words as in the DESCRIPTION?
DESCRIPTION
strnul() returns a pointer to the terminating null byte in the
string s.
RETURN VALUE
strnul() returns a pointer to the terminating null byte in the
string s.
I could remove the DESCRIPTION altogether... What would you do?
>
> C novices struggle with pointer arithmetic as it is. (Even non-novices
> can, when working with exotic architectures with multiple memory models
> like the x86's historical--and thankfully near-forgotten--`near` and
> `far`. Pointer arithmetic in the former can, if my vague recollection
> is correct, do surprising stuff like wrap around a 64 KiB memory segment
> without causing a fault.)
I might as well write it as &s[strlen(s)] if pointer arithmetic is the
confusing part. :)
>
> I assume that the string library reforms you're pursuing are intended in
> part to be adopted by newcomers to C.
I intend old programmers to use it too. I guess you're expecting
a patch to groff once this is in a branch of gnulib you're using. ;)
> Avoiding cleverness when
> presenting new interfaces can make them less scary.
Agree.
Have a lovely night!
Alex
>
> Regards,
> Branden
--
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>
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