Re: gEDA-user: Random thoughts on the future interface of PCB

[Armin Faltl <armin.faltl@xxxxxx>]

Anthony Blake wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 4:18 AM, Armin Faltl <armin.faltl@xxxxxx> wrote:
>   
> > Anthony Blake wrote:
> >     
> > > Yes, if you were having difficulty with the END_LOOP macro, I can
> > > understand why you didn't venture any deeper into the code.
> > >
> > >       
> > I had no difficulty finding or understanding the macro, but I have a huge
> > problem
> > to work on code, where others deliberately introduce stuff, that is a
> > maintenance
> > nightmare. There is a reason, the compiler disallows unmacht '{'  in one
> > file.
> >     
>
> Relax, the macros aren't part of an elaborate plan to *deliberately*
> obfuscate the code. That file is over 15 years old.
>   
Yes, theses macros make the code look like FORTRAN
> I don't think a few 'maintenance nightmares' or matching '{' problems
> are good reasons for giving up and just doing nothing instead. You
> don't have to like the macros and so on to fix bugs, and IMO just
> nutting up and dealing with the matching '{' issues etc is worth it to
> nail a bug that may have been bothering you.
Before I can nail a bug, I have to understand the code. If I have to 
look at 2 files
to understand something as simple as '}}' this gets disgusting. I don't 
have the time
to learn all the peculiarities of the code to be sure of what I'm doing.

Replacing these macros can be seen as a point-fix - nothing is changed 
in the logic.
That's why I would have volunteered to do that (and similiar things),
but everyone working on a branch has to apply the delta - and they don't 
like to.
> Its better than doing
> nothing or writing large parts of PCB from scratch.
>   
No, I believe, that if I have no thorough understanding of what I'm really
doing, I better leave the code alone or write a part between clean 
interfaces
from scratch. That's because to me this app is not a toy.

When I first saw the 'productivity' of a recent contributor I was 
standing in awe.
I thought - incredible, he must have an IQ of 300+ or something. Since his
handling of drilling tool path optimization and the remark on math and 
simulation,
it's clear to me, how he achieves this staggering speed. By the "oh - I 
don't understand
it, let's ignore or rip it out"-attitude.

Markus, did you realize by now, that drill file optimization is actually
the NP-hard 'traveling salesman problem'? Tons of literature and
algorithms exist for it ;-)



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