[self-clarification]

At 2025-09-18T15:19:55-0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> I'm not _opposed_ to migrating to `countof()`; it simply seems to me
> a relatively cutting-edge modernization that brings little practical
> benefit.

My wording was pretty clumsy here.  I mean "little practical (maybe
"concrete" would have been better) benefit _over the solution we now
(finally) have_."[1]

I vigorously endorse the provision of _some_ standard means of measuring
a container's length in standard C.  Expecting people to write for loops
with divisions and `sizeof()` expressions all the time is expecting them
to fail, and to introduce bugs.

If I didn't feel that way, I wouldn't have bothered with groff's bespoke
`array_length()` facility in the first place--I'd have blathered some
nonsense about "real men" and "working close to the metal" instead.

So please be assured that I appreciate your work in getting `countof()`
into the C standard at long last.

Regards,
Branden

[1] I had to learn a bit about the history of the C++ language to fully
    land it, as seen in the commit logs I quoted earlier.

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: PGP signature

Reply via email to