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I personally don’t like forward referencing because it makes code harder to read. You can no longer rely on the dependency graph being in topological order.

by xigoi 2y ago

WalterBright 2y ago
As the article writes, that forces the private leaf functions to be at the top, with the public interface at the end of the file. The normal way is the public interface at the top, and the implementation "below the fold", so to speak. > topological order You are correct. But its the reverse topological order, which is not the most readable ordering. One doesn't read a newspaper article starting at the bottom.
- xigoi 2y ago
  Maybe it’s because I’m primarily a mathematician, but I like building complex stuff up from primitives and having the most important results at the end.
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    Vive la différence - and you'll still be able to do it your way!
  - kccqzy 2y ago
    That's not how I do things in math. I always need motivation first. So I start with the theorem, look at a couple of examples to see why this theorem is interesting, and then the various lemmas leading into the proof. So that means I really like declaring but not defining the public interface first, and then define the private helper functions, and finally definitions for the public interface.
  - Lvl999Noob 2y ago
    Perhaps the difference is having algorithm in your head and just putting it into code, versus only knowing the top level work to be done and implementing the needed operations later. If I am writing some kind of service, I would write the main public functions first, using undefined functions in their bodies as needed. Then I would implement those functions below.
  - bmacho 2y ago
    I think you mean it in the context of proofs, right? Proofs are indeed often best written in a topological order: a series of true statements, where every reference refer backwards. You don't often see Answer = A + B, where A = ... ... B = ... albeit you sometimes see it, and it is totally valid. For proofreading something, it makes a big difference: if things are in a topological order, you can simulate a constant memory finite machine. If they are not in a topological order, well, probably you better just rewrite it (or at least I do). For most other things, I usually prefer the bird-view first, when I am doing or reading some elses math. Funnily the language Haskell which operates on definitions, is very order independent, it even allows circular definitions. I like it for leetcode and such.
- chikere232 2y ago
  People learn the ordering. If that is their biggest hurdle learning C they have a blessed life

I personally don’t like forward referencing because it makes code harder to read. You can no longer rely on the dependency graph being in topological order.

by xigoi 2y ago

I personally don’t like forward referencing because it makes code harder to read. You can no longer rely on the dependency graph being in topological order.

WalterBright 2y ago

As the article writes, that forces the private leaf functions to be at the top, with the public interface at the end of the file. The normal way is the public interface at the top, and the implementation "below the fold", so to speak. > topological order You are correct. But its the reverse topological order, which is not the most readable ordering. One doesn't read a newspaper article starting at the bottom.

xigoi 2y ago
Maybe it’s because I’m primarily a mathematician, but I like building complex stuff up from primitives and having the most important results at the end.
- WalterBright 2y ago
  Vive la différence - and you'll still be able to do it your way!
- kccqzy 2y ago
  That's not how I do things in math. I always need motivation first. So I start with the theorem, look at a couple of examples to see why this theorem is interesting, and then the various lemmas leading into the proof. So that means I really like declaring but not defining the public interface first, and then define the private helper functions, and finally definitions for the public interface.
- Lvl999Noob 2y ago
  Perhaps the difference is having algorithm in your head and just putting it into code, versus only knowing the top level work to be done and implementing the needed operations later. If I am writing some kind of service, I would write the main public functions first, using undefined functions in their bodies as needed. Then I would implement those functions below.
- bmacho 2y ago
  I think you mean it in the context of proofs, right? Proofs are indeed often best written in a topological order: a series of true statements, where every reference refer backwards. You don't often see Answer = A + B, where A = ... ... B = ... albeit you sometimes see it, and it is totally valid. For proofreading something, it makes a big difference: if things are in a topological order, you can simulate a constant memory finite machine. If they are not in a topological order, well, probably you better just rewrite it (or at least I do). For most other things, I usually prefer the bird-view first, when I am doing or reading some elses math. Funnily the language Haskell which operates on definitions, is very order independent, it even allows circular definitions. I like it for leetcode and such.
chikere232 2y ago
People learn the ordering. If that is their biggest hurdle learning C they have a blessed life