--- "Chris \"Winston\" Litchfield" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Macros using global memory? > > Pass pointers or use globals for performance.
I'm not sure I understood you're initial query, but I'm concerned about the above statement. This is not the first time you've suggested that good programming practice (readability, and maintainability) be given a back seat to _highly_ miniscule performance gains. There are reasons for using pointers, and there are reasons for using globals. IMO "performance" is not a primary reason for doing either. Admittedly, in a number of places pointers can be employed to give significant performance increases, but this is usually the result of using pointers to create efficient data structures which provide performance gains. Using pointers in and of themselves won't really do this. Globals should be used sparingly at best. They reduce the flexibility of your programming design, and in many cases make sections of code highly dificult to read. I'm reminded of some of that terrible terrible source I saw of Medevia (sp?). Where to change the color text being sent to the character, a macro would be called. This macro would in turn change a global variable to a different color code. Then when the text was written to a character, it would insert the code in this variable... The problem was that if one person had the color output to them, and the programmer forgot to switch back, all the other characters would also start getting their messages in that color. Variables in the global scope should be restricted to only those things which have no alternatives but to be accessed at the global level. IMO data about one specific character attacking another does not fall into this paradigm. ~Kender Rules of Optimization: Rule 1: Don't do it. Rule 2 (for experts only): Don't do it yet. - M.A. Jackson "More computing sins are committed in the name of efficiency (without necessarily achieving it) than for any other single reason - including blind stupidity." - W.A. Wulf "We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil." - Donald Knuth ===== -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version 3.1 GCS/L/C/O d-(+) s++: a-- C+++$>++++ UBLS++++$ P+++(--)$ L+++>++++ E--- W+>++$ N !o K? w(--) !O M- !V PS+ PE(++) Y+ PGP->+ t+ 5 X+() R(+) tv+@ b++(+++) !DI+++ D G(-) e>+++$ h---() r+++ y+++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
