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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 th
by 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 agoI 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 agoThe 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 agoIf 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...