3 ms·

● Top dumb issues ● Not linux or BSD? #include <windows.h> can someone explain the above to me? the slides didn't make sense.

• koenigdavidmj 11y ago
  Poorly written preprocessor bits in C code that assume that anything anyone ever runs is either Linux, BSD (including OS X), or Windows. They basically write the following: #ifdef LINUX // include Linux headers #elif defined(BSD) // include BSD headers #else // include Windows headers. What else would it possibly be? #endif The "mach.h" one is similar: people make a bad assumption that OS X is the only Mach kernel people use. (Hurd is obviously a counterpoint, just an unpopular one.)
  • ianremsen 11y ago
    I think it's wrong to call it poorly written because the programmer only accounted their C preprocessor code for ~99.99% of desktop and mobile operating systems. The diminishing return for avoiding this approach is so impalpable it hurts. Windows, OSX/iOS/BSD, and Linux/Android literally are everything anyone ever uses, within rounding error.
    • ori_b 11y ago
      The diminishing return approach is this: #ifdef LINUX // include Linux headers #elif defined(BSD) // include BSD headers #elif defined(WINDOWS) // include Windows headers. # else #error "unsupported system" #endif
    • viraptor 11y ago
      If you develop for different platforms then it may actually make sense to do a "if linux / elif bsd / elif windows / else #error unsupported". At least it gives you a proper answer in case you forgot you have some wild crosscompiler in your path. But I understand it's not a popular concern...