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I have some problems getting a macro in Unreal blueprint converted to C++. The macro influences a lot of my code, and in the picture included, the C++ code is not similar to the macro which the code is based on
The code is based on this
bool AGrid::TileValid(int Row, int Column)
{
if (((Row >= 0) && (Row < NumRows)) && ((Column >= 0) && (Column<NumColumns)))
{
return true;
}
return false;
}
Any suggestion on how I can implement this code?
I'm unsure as to what exactly isn't working?
I'm going to take a guess and say that you were expecting your (what is now a C++ function, not a Macro) TileValid Node from C++ does not have the Execution pins that the Blueprint Macro has.
Make sure that you do not mark your TileValid function with BlueprintPure, instead mark it with BlueprintCallable. Also make sure that it isnt marked as a const function, this will also affect its appearance and functionality.
BlueprintPure and/or const C++ functions which are BlueprintCallable do not require direct execution (the white lines) and are instead executed for everytime their output pin is wired into another Node, they will then be executed when that parent Node is executed. This can change their behavior, as variables they may use can change in-between subsequent executions, thus potentially altering their output.
This code did where both UFUNCTION(BlueprintCallable, BlueprintPure) in the callable H class. Removing the BlueprintPure from this code wold solve the executionable variable
Is it possible to define a section or scope in my code within which a different code path is executed, without using a global or passed-down state variable?
For debugging purposes, I want to be able to surround a section of faulty code with a scope or #define to temporarily switch on pre-defined debugging behavior within this section, e.g. use debug data, a more precise data type, an already validated algorithm, … This needs to work in a multi-threaded application in which multiple threads will likely execute the same shared code concurrently, but only some of them have called this code from within the defined section.
For example, here is some pseudo-code that is not working, but might illustrate what I'd like to do. A static expensive function that is called from several places concurrently:
Result Algorithms::foo()
{
#ifdef DEBUG_SECTION
return Algorithms::algorithmPrecise(dataPrecise);
#else
return Algorithms::algorithmOptimized(dataOptimized);
#endif
}
Three classes of which instances need to be updated frequently:
Result A::update()
{
return Algorithms::foo();
}
Result B::update()
{
Result result;
#define DEBUG_SECTION
...
result = a.update() + 1337;
...
#undef DEBUG_SECTION
return result;
}
Result C::update()
{
return a.update();
}
As you can see, class A directly calls foo(), whereas in class B, foo() is called indirectly by calling a.update() and some other stuff. Let us assume B::update() returns a wrong result, so I want to be able to use the debug implementation of foo() only from this location. In C::update(), the optimized version should still be used.
My conceptual idea is to define a DEBUG_SECTION around the faulty code which would use the debug implementation at this location. This, however, does not work in practice, as Algorithms::foo() is compiled once with DEBUG_SECTION not being defined. In my application, Algorithms, A, B, and C are located in separate libraries.
I want that within a section defined in the code, a different code section within shared code is executed. However, outside of this section I still want execution of the original code, which at runtime will happen concurrently, so I cannot simply use a state variable. I could add a debugFlag parameter to each call within the DEBUG_SECTION that is passed down in each recursive call that is then provided to Algorithms::foo(), but this is extremely prone to errors (you must not miss any calls, but the section could be quite huge, spread over different files, …) and quite messy in a larger system. Is there any better way to do this?
I need a solution for C++11 and MSVC.
This might work by using a template:
template<bool pDebug>
Result Algorithms::foo()
{
if(pDebug)
return Algorithms::algorithmPrecise(dataPrecise);
else
return Algorithms::algorithmOptimized(dataOptimized);
}
On the other hand this means moving your function definition into a header (or forcing template instantiation, see these answers).
The downside is that changing the call to Algorithms::foo() from instance.foo<false> to instance.foo<true> every time you want to switch between debugging and release might require effort. If you have multiple affected calls you could use a compile time const variable to reduce the typing effort, but not knowing your code exactly I can't estimate if this is a feasible solution.
If the majority of your code uses the optimized version of the function you can also set the template parameter to default to false (template<bool pDebug = false>) to avoid changing existing code that will not call the debug-version.
When doing a code review for a colleague today I saw a peculiar thing. He had surrounded his new code with curly braces like this:
Constructor::Constructor()
{
// Existing code
{
// New code: do some new fancy stuff here
}
// Existing code
}
What is the outcome, if any, from this? What could be the reason for doing this? Where does this habit come from?
The environment is embedded devices. There is a lot of legacy C code wrapped in C++ clothing. There are a lot of C turned C++ developers.
There are no critical sections in this part of the code. I have only seen it in this part of the code. There are no major memory allocations done, just some flags that are set, and some bit twiddling.
The code that is surrounded by curly braces is something like:
{
bool isInit;
(void)isStillInInitMode(&isInit);
if (isInit) {
return isInit;
}
}
(Don't mind the code, just stick to the curly braces... ;) )
After the curly braces there are some more bit twiddling, state checking, and basic signaling.
I talked to the guy and his motivation was to limit the scope of variables, naming clashes, and some other that I couldn't really pick up.
From my point of view this seems rather strange and I don't think that the curly braces should be in our code. I saw some good examples in all the answers on why one could surround code with curly braces, but shouldn't you separate the code into methods instead?
fsdf
It's sometimes nice since it gives you a new scope, where you can more "cleanly" declare new (automatic) variables.
In C++ this is maybe not so important since you can introduce new variables anywhere, but perhaps the habit is from C, where you could not do this until C99. :)
Since C++ has destructors, it can also be handy to have resources (files, mutexes, or whatever) automatically released as the scope exits, which can make things cleaner. This means you can hold on to some shared resource for a shorter duration than you would if you grabbed it at the start of the method.
One possible purpose is to control variable scope. And since variables with automatic storage are destroyed when they go out of scope, this can also enable a destructor to be called earlier than it otherwise would.
The extra braces are used to define the scope of the variable declared inside the braces. It is done so that the destructor will be called when the variable goes out of scope. In the destructor, you may release a mutex (or any other resource) so that other could acquire it.
In my production code, I've written something like this:
void f()
{
// Some code - MULTIPLE threads can execute this code at the same time
{
scoped_lock lock(mutex); // Critical section starts here
// Critical section code
// EXACTLY ONE thread can execute this code at a time
} // The mutex is automatically released here
// Other code - MULTIPLE threads can execute this code at the same time
}
As you can see, in this way, you can use scoped_lock in a function and at the same time, can define its scope by using extra braces. This makes sure that even though the code outside the extra braces can be executed by multiple threads simultaneously, the code inside the braces will be executed by exactly one thread at a time.
As others have pointed out, a new block introduces a new scope, enabling one to write a bit of code with its own variables that don't trash the namespace of the surrounding code, and doesn't use resources any longer than necessary.
However, there's another fine reason for doing this.
It is simply to isolate a block of code that achieves a particular (sub)purpose. It is rare that a single statement achieves a computational effect I want; usually it takes several. Placing those in a block (with a comment) allows me tell the reader (often myself at a later date):
This chunk has a coherent conceptual purpose
Here's all the code needed
And here's a comment about the chunk.
e.g.
{ // update the moving average
i= (i+1) mod ARRAYSIZE;
sum = sum - A[i];
A[i] = new_value;
sum = sum + new_value;
average = sum / ARRAYSIZE ;
}
You might argue I should write a function to do all that. If I only do it once, writing a function just adds additional syntax and parameters; there seems little point. Just think of this as a parameterless, anonymous function.
If you are lucky, your editor will have a fold/unfold function that will even let you hide the block.
I do this all the time. It is great pleasure to know the bounds of the code I need to inspect, and even better to know that if that chunk isn't the one I want, I don't have to look at any of the lines.
One reason could be that the lifetime of any variables declared inside the new curly braces block is restricted to this block. Another reason that comes to mind is to be able to use code folding in the favourite editor.
This is the same as an if (or while, etc.) block, just without if. In other words, you introduce a scope without introducing a control structure.
This "explicit scoping" is typically useful in following cases:
To avoid name clashes.
To scope using.
To control when the destructors are called.
Example 1:
{
auto my_variable = ... ;
// ...
}
// ...
{
auto my_variable = ... ;
// ...
}
If my_variable happens to be a particularly good name for two different variables that are used in isolation from each other, then explicit scoping allows you to avoid inventing a new name just to avoid the name clash.
This also allows you to avoid using my_variable out of its intended scope by accident.
Example 2:
namespace N1 { class A { }; }
namespace N2 { class A { }; }
void foo() {
{
using namespace N1;
A a; // N1::A.
// ...
}
{
using namespace N2;
A a; // N2::A.
// ...
}
}
Practical situations when this is useful are rare and may indicate the code is ripe for refactoring, but the mechanism is there should you ever genuinely need it.
Example 3:
{
MyRaiiClass guard1 = ...;
// ...
{
MyRaiiClass guard2 = ...;
// ...
} // ~MyRaiiClass for guard2 called.
// ...
} // ~MyRaiiClass for guard1 called.
This can be important for RAII in cases when the need for freeing resources does not naturally "fall" onto boundaries of functions or control structures.
Everyone else already covered correctly the scoping, RAII etc. possiblities, but since you mention an embedded environment, there is one further potential reason:
Maybe the developer doesn't trust this compiler's register allocation or wants to explicitly control the stack frame size by limiting the number of automatic variables in scope at once.
Here isInit will likely be on the stack:
{
bool isInit;
(void)isStillInInitMode(&isInit);
if (isInit) {
return isInit;
}
}
If you take out the curly braces, space for isInit may be reserved in the stack frame even after it could potentially be reused: if there are lots of automatic variables with similarly localized scope, and your stack size is limited, that could be a problem.
Similarly, if your variable is allocated to a register, going out of scope should provide a strong hint that register is now available for re-use. You'd have to look at the assembler generated with and without the braces to figure out if this makes a real difference (and profile it - or watch for stack overflow - to see if this difference really matters).
This is really useful when using scoped locks in conjunction with critical sections in multithreaded programming. Your scoped lock initialised in the curly braces (usually the first command) will go out of scope at the end of the end of the block and so other threads will be able to run again.
I think others have covered scoping already, so I'll mention the unnecessary braces might also serve purpose in the development process. For example, suppose you are working on an optimization to an existing function. Toggling the optimization or tracing a bug to a particular sequence of statements is simple for the programmer -- see the comment prior to the braces:
// if (false) or if (0)
{
//experimental optimization
}
This practice is useful in certain contexts like debugging, embedded devices, or personal code.
I agree with ruakh. If you want a good explanation of the various levels of scope in C, check out this post:
Various Levels of Scope in C Application
In general, the use of "Block scope" is helpful if you want to just use a temporary variable that you don't have to keep track of for the lifetime of the function call. Additionally, some people use it so you can use the same variable name in multiple locations for convenience, though that's not generally a good idea. E.g.:
int unusedInt = 1;
int main(void) {
int k;
for(k = 0; k<10; k++) {
int returnValue = myFunction(k);
printf("returnValue (int) is: %d (k=%d)",returnValue,k);
}
for(k = 0; k<100; k++) {
char returnValue = myCharacterFunction(k);
printf("returnValue (char) is: %c (k=%d)",returnValue,k);
}
return 0;
}
In this particular example, I have defined returnValue twice, but since it is just at block scope, instead of function scope (i.e., function scope would be, for example, declaring returnValue just after int main(void)), I don't get any compiler errors, as each block is oblivious to the temporary instance of returnValue declared.
I can't say that this is a good idea in general (i.e., you probably shouldn't reuse variable names repeatedly from block-to-block), but in general, it saves time and lets you avoid having to manage the value of returnValue across the entire function.
Finally, please note the scope of the variables used in my code sample:
int: unusedInt: File and global scope (if this were a static int, it would only be file scope)
int: k: Function scope
int: returnValue: Block scope
char: returnValue: Block scope
So, why to use "unnecessary" curly braces?
For "Scoping" purposes (as mentioned above)
Making code more readable in a way (pretty much like using #pragma, or defining "sections" that can be visualized)
Because you can. Simple as that.
P.S. It's not BAD code; it's 100% valid. So, it's rather a matter of (uncommon) taste.
After viewing the code in the edit, I can say that the unnecessary brackets are probably (in the original coders view) to be 100% clear what will happen during the if/then, even tho it is only one line now, it might be more lines later, and the brackets guarantee you wont make an error.
{
bool isInit;
(void)isStillInInitMode(&isInit);
if (isInit) {
return isInit;
}
return -1;
}
if the above was original, and removing "extras" woudl result in:
{
bool isInit;
(void)isStillInInitMode(&isInit);
if (isInit)
return isInit;
return -1;
}
then, a later modification might look like this:
{
bool isInit;
(void)isStillInInitMode(&isInit);
if (isInit)
CallSomethingNewHere();
return isInit;
return -1;
}
and that, would of course, cause an issue, since now isInit would always be returned, regardless of the if/then.
Objects are automagically destroyed when they go out of scope...
Another example of usage is UI-related classes, especially Qt.
For example, you have some complicated UI and a lot of widgets, each of them got its own spacing, layout, etc. Instead of naming them space1, space2, spaceBetween, layout1, ... you can save yourself from non-descriptive names for variables that exist only in two-three lines of code.
Well, some might say that you should split it in methods, but creating 40 non-reusable methods doesn't look ok - so I decided to just add braces and comments before them, so it looks like logical block.
Example:
// Start video button
{
<Here goes the code >
}
// Stop video button
{
<...>
}
// Status label
{
<...>
}
I can't say that's the best practice, but it's good one for legacy code.
Got these problems when a lot of people added their own components to UI and some methods became really massive, but it's not practical to create 40 onetime-usage methods inside class that already messed up.
I have inherited a very long set of macros from some C algorithm code.They basically call free on a number of structures as the function exits either abnormally or normally. I would like to replace these with something more debuggable and readable. A snippet is shown below
#define FREE_ALL_VECS {FREE_VEC_COND(kernel);FREE_VEC_COND(cirradCS); FREE_VEC_COND(pixAccum).....
#define FREE_ALL_2D_MATS {FREE_2D_MAT_COND(circenCS); FREE_2D_MAT_COND(cirradCS_2); }
#define FREE_ALL_IMAGES {immFreeImg(&imgC); immFreeImg(&smal.....
#define COND_FREE_ALLOC_VARS {FREE_ALL_VECS FREE_ALL_2D_MATS FREE_ALL_IMAGES}
What approach would be best? Should I just leave well alone if it works? This macro set is called twelve times in one function. I'm on Linux with gcc.
Usually I refactor such macros to functions, using inline functions when the code is really performance critical. Also I try to move allocation, deallocation and clean up stuff into C++ objects, to get advantage of the automatic destruction.
If they are broken then fix them by converting to functions.
If they're aren't broken then leave them be.
If you are determined to change them, write unit-tests to check you don't inadvertently break something.
Ideally, I would use inline functions instead of using macros to eliminate function call overhead. However, basing from your snippet, the macros you have would call several nested functions. Inlining them may not have any effect, thus I would just suggest to refactor them into functions to make them more readable and maintainable. Inlining improves performance only if the function to be inlined is simple (e.g. accessors, mutators, no loops).
I believe this is your decision. If the macros are creating problems when debugging, I believe it is best to create some functions that do the same things as the macros. In general you should avoid complicated macros. By complicated I mean macros that do something more than a simple value definition.
Recommended:
// it is best to use only this type of macro
#define MAX_VALUE 200
The rest is not recommended (see example below):
// this is not recommended
#define min(x,y) ( (x)<(y) ? (x) : (y) )
// imagine using min with some function arguments like this:
//
// val = min(func1(), func2())
//
// this means that one of functions is called twice which is generally
// not very good for performance
I was looking at some code by an individual and noticed he seems to have a pattern in his functions:
<return-type> function(<params>)
{
<initialization>
do
{
<main code for function>
}
while(false);
<tidy-up & return>
}
It's not bad, more peculiar (the actual code is fairly neat and unsurprising). It's not something I've seen before and I wondered if anyone can think of any logic behind it - background in a different language perhaps?
You can break out of do{...}while(false).
A lot of people point out that it's often used with break as an awkward way of writing "goto". That's probably true if it's written directly in the function.
In a macro, OTOH, do { something; } while (false) is a convenient way to FORCE a semicolon after the macro invocation, absolutely no other token is allowed to follow.
And another possibility is that there either once was a loop there or iteration is anticipated to be added in the future (e.g. in test-driven development, iteration wasn't needed to pass the tests, but logically it would make sense to loop there if the function needed to be somewhat more general than currently required)
The break as goto is probably the answer, but I will put forward one other idea.
Maybe he wanted to have a locally defined variables and used this construct to get a new scope.
Remember while recent C++ allows for {...} anywhere, this was not always the case.
I've seen it used as a useful pattern when there are many potential exit points for the function, but the same cleanup code is always required regardless of how the function exits.
It can make a tiresome if/else-if tree a lot easier to read, by just having to break whenever an exit point is reached, with the rest of the logic inline afterwards.
This pattern is also useful in languages that don't have a goto statement. Perhaps that's where the original programmer learnt the pattern.
I've seen code like that so you can use break as a goto of sorts.
I think it's more convenient to write break instead of goto end. You don't even have to think up a name for the label which makes the intention clearer: You don't want to jump to a label with a specific name. You want to get out of here.
Also chances are you would need the braces anyway. So this is the do{...}while(false); version:
do {
// code
if (condition) break; // or continue
// more code
} while(false);
And this is the way you would have to express it if you wanted to use goto:
{
// code
if (condition) goto end;
// more code
}
end:
I think the meaning of the first version is much easier to grasp. Also it's easier to write, easier to extend, easier to translate to a language that doesn't support goto, etc.
The most frequently mentioned concern about the use of break is that it's a badly disguised goto. But actually break has more resemblance to return: Both instructions jump out of a block of code which is pretty much structured in comparison to goto. Nevertheless both instructions allow multiple exit points in a block of code which can be confusing sometimes. After all I would try to go for the most clear solution, whatever that is in the specific situation.
This is just a perversion of while to get the sematics of goto tidy-up without using the word goto.
It's bad form because when you use other loops inside the outer while the breaks become ambiguous to the reader. "Is this supposed to goto exit? or is this intended only to break out of the inner loop?"
This trick is used by programmers that are too shy to use an explicit goto in their code. The author of the above code wanted to have the ability to jump directly to the "cleanup and return" point from the middle of the code. But they didn't want to use a label and explicit goto. Instead, they can use a break inside the body of the above "fake" cycle to achieve the same effect.
Several explanations. The first one is general, the second one is specific to C preprocessor macros with parameters:
Flow control
I've seen this used in plain C code. Basically, it's a safer version of goto, as you can break out of it and all memory gets cleaned up properly.
Why would something goto-like be good? Well, if you have code where pretty much every line can return an error, but you need to react to all of them the same way (e.g. by handing the error to your caller after cleaning up), it's usually more readable to avoid an if( error ) { /* cleanup and error string generation and return here */ } as it avoids duplication of clean-up code.
However, in C++ you have exceptions + RAII for exactly this purpose, so I would consider it bad coding style.
Semicolon checking
If you forget the semicolon after a function-like macro invocation, arguments might contract in an undesired way and compile into valid syntax. Imagine the macro
#define PRINT_IF_DEBUGMODE_ON(msg) if( gDebugModeOn ) printf("foo");
That is accidentally called as
if( foo )
PRINT_IF_DEBUGMODE_ON("Hullo\n")
else
doSomethingElse();
The "else" will be considered to be associated with the gDebugModeOn, so when foo is false, the exact reverse of what was intended will happen.
Providing a scope for temporary variables.
Since the do/while has curly braces, temporary variables have a clearly defined scope they can't escape.
Avoiding "possibly unwanted semicolon" warnings
Some macros are only activated in debug builds. You define them like:
#if DEBUG
#define DBG_PRINT_NUM(n) printf("%d\n",n);
#else
#define DBG_PRINT_NUM(n)
#endif
Now if you use this in a release build inside a conditional, it compiles to
if( foo )
;
Many compilers see this as the same as
if( foo );
Which is often written accidentally. So you get a warning. The do{}while(false) hides this from the compiler, and is accepted by it as an indication that you really want to do nothing here.
Avoiding capturing of lines by conditionals
Macro from previous example:
if( foo )
DBG_PRINT_NUM(42)
doSomething();
Now, in a debug build, since we also habitually included the semicolon, this compiles just fine. However, in the release build this suddenly turns into:
if( foo )
doSomething();
Or more clearly formatted
if( foo )
doSomething();
Which is not at all what was intended. Adding a do{ ... }while(false) around the macro turns the missing semicolon into a compile error.
What's that mean for the OP?
In general, you want to use exceptions in C++ for error handling, and templates instead of macros. However, in the very rare case where you still need macros (e.g. when generating class names using token pasting) or are restricted to plain C, this is a useful pattern.
It looks like a C programmer. In C++, automatic variables have destructors which you use to clean up, so there should not be anything needed tidying up before the return. In C, you didn't have this RAII idiom, so if you have common clean up code, you either goto it, or use a once-through loop as above.
Its main disadvantage compared with the C++ idiom is that it will not tidy up if an exception is thrown in the body. C didn't have exceptions, so this wasn't a problem, but it does make it a bad habit in C++.
It is a very common practice. In C. I try to think of it as if you want to lie to yourself in a way "I'm not using a goto". Thinking about it, there would be nothing wrong with a goto used similarly. In fact it would also reduce indentation level.
That said, though, I noticed, very often this do..while loops tend to grow. And then they get ifs and elses inside, rendering the code actually not very readable, let alone testable.
Those do..while are normally intended to do a clean-up. By all means possible I would prefer to use RAII and return early from a short function. On the other hand, C doesn't provide you as much conveniences as C++ does, making a do..while one of the best approaches to do a cleanup.
Maybe it’s used so that break can be used inside to abort the execution of further code at any point:
do {
if (!condition1) break;
some_code;
if (!condition2) break;
some_further_code;
// …
} while(false);
I think this is done to use break or continue statements. Some kind of "goto" code logic.
It's simple: Apparently you can jump out of the fake loop at any time using the break statement. Furthermore, the do block is a separate scope (which could also be achieved with { ... } only).
In such a situation, it might be a better idea to use RAII (objects automatically destructing correctly when the function ends). Another similar construct is the use of goto - yes, I know it's evil, but it can be used to have common cleanup code like so:
<return-type> function(<params>)
{
<initialization>
<main code for function using "goto error;" if something goes wrong>
<tidy-up in success case & return>
error:
<commmon tidy-up actions for error case & return error code or throw exception>
}
(As an aside: The do-while-false construct is used in Lua to come up for the missing continue statement.)
How old was the author?
I ask because I once came across some real-time Fortran code that did that, back in the late 80's. It turns out that is a really good way to simulate threads on an OS that doesn't have them. You just put the entire program (your scheduler) in a loop, and call your "thread" routines" one by one. The thread routines themselves are loops that iterate until one of a number of conditions happen (often one being a certain amount of time has passed). It is "cooperative multitasking", in that it is up to the individual threads to give up the CPU every now and then so the others don't get starved. You can nest the looping subprogram calls to simulate thread priority bands.
Many answerers gave the reason for do{(...)break;}while(false). I would like to complement the picture by yet another real-life example.
In the following code I had to set enumerator operation based on the address pointed to by data pointer. Because a switch-case can be used only on scalar types first I did it inefficiently this way
if (data == &array[o1])
operation = O1;
else if (data == &array[o2])
operation = O2;
else if (data == &array[on])
operation = ON;
Log("operation:",operation);
But since Log() and the rest of code repeats for any chosen value of operation I was wandering how to skip the rest of comparisons when the address has been already discovered. And this is where do{(...)break;}while(false) comes in handy.
do {
if (data == &array[o1]) {
operation = O1;
break;
}
if (data == &array[o2]) {
operation = O2;
break;
}
if (data == &array[on]) {
operation = ON;
break;
}
} while (false);
Log("operation:",operation);
One may wonder why he couldn't do the same with break in an if statement, like:
if (data == &array[o1])
{
operation = O1;
break;
}
else if (...)
break interacts solely with the closest enclosing loop or switch, whether it be a for, while or do .. while type, so unfortunately that won't work.
In addition to the already mentioned 'goto examples', the do ... while (0) idiom is sometimes used in a macro definition to provide for brackets in the definition and still have the compiler work with adding a semi colon to the end of a macro call.
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.soft-sys.ace/browse_thread/thread/52f670f1292f30a4?tvc=2&q=while+(0)
I agree with most posters about the usage as a thinly disguised goto. Macros have also been mentioned as a potential motivation for writing code in the style.
I have also seen this construct used in mixed C/C++ environments as a poor man's exception. The "do {} while(false)" with a "break" can be used to skip to the end of the code block should something that would normally warrant an exception be encountered in the loop.
I have also sen this construct used in shops where the "single return per function" ideology is enforced. Again, this is in lieu of an explicit "goto" - but the motivation is to avoid multiple return points, not to "skip over" code and continue actual execution within that function.
I work with Adobe InDesign SDK, and the InDesign SDK examples have almost every function written like this. It is due to fact that the function are usually really long. Where you need to do QueryInterface(...) to get anything from the application object model. So usually every QueryInterface is followed by if not went well, break.
Many have already stated the similarity between this construct and a goto, and expressed a preference for the goto. Perhaps this person's background included an environment where goto's were strictly forbidden by coding guidelines?
The other reason I can think of is that it decorates the braces, whereas I believe in a newer C++ standard naked braces are not okay (ISO C doesn't like them). Otherwise to quiet a static analyzer like lint.
Not sure why you'd want them, maybe variable scope, or advantage with a debugger.
See Trivial Do While loop, and Braces are Good from C2.
To clarify my terminology (which I believe follows standard usage):
Naked braces:
init();
...
{
c = NULL;
mkwidget(&c);
finishwidget(&c);
}
shutdown();
Empty braces (NOP):
{}
e.g.
while (1)
{} /* Do nothing, endless loop */
Block:
if (finished)
{
closewindows(&windows);
freememory(&cache);
}
which would become
if (finished)
closewindows(&windows);
freememory(&cache);
if the braces are removed, thus altering the flow of execution, not just the scope of local variables. Thus not 'freestanding' or 'naked'.
Naked braces or a block may be used to signify any section of code that might be a potential for an (inline) function that you wish to mark, but not refactor at that time.
It's a contrived way to emulate a GOTO as these two are practically identical:
// NOTE: This is discouraged!
do {
if (someCondition) break;
// some code be here
} while (false);
// more code be here
and:
// NOTE: This is discouraged, too!
if (someCondition) goto marker;
// some code be here
marker:
// more code be here
On the other hand, both of these should really be done with ifs:
if (!someCondition) {
// some code be here
}
// more code be here
Although the nesting can get a bit ugly if you just turn a long string of forward-GOTOs into nested ifs. The real answer is proper refactoring, though, not imitating archaic language constructs.
If you were desperately trying to transliterate an algorithm with GOTOs in it, you could probably do it with this idiom. It's certainly non-standard and a good indicator that you're not adhering closely to the expected idioms of the language, though.
I'm not aware of any C-like language where do/while is an idiomatic solution for anything, actually.
You could probably refactor the whole mess into something more sensible to make it more idiomatic and much more readable.
Some coders prefer to only have a single exit/return from their functions. The use of a dummy do { .... } while(false); allows you to "break out" of the dummy loop once you've finished and still have a single return.
I'm a java coder, so my example would be something like
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import java.util.stream.Stream;
public class p45
{
static List<String> cakeNames = Arrays.asList("schwarzwald torte", "princess", "icecream");
static Set<Integer> forbidden = Stream.of(0, 2).collect(Collectors.toSet());
public static void main(String[] argv)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
System.out.println(String.format("cake(%d)=\"%s\"", i, describeCake(i)));
}
}
static String describeCake(int typeOfCake)
{
String result = "unknown";
do {
// ensure type of cake is valid
if (typeOfCake < 0 || typeOfCake >= cakeNames.size()) break;
if (forbidden.contains(typeOfCake)) {
result = "not for you!!";
break;
}
result = cakeNames.get(typeOfCake);
} while (false);
return result;
}
}
In such cases I use
switch(true) {
case condution1:
...
break;
case condution2:
...
break;
}
This is amusing. There are probably breaks inside the loop as others have said. I would have done it this way :
while(true)
{
<main code for function>
break; // at the end.
}