[Freeciv-Dev] Re: [RFC PATCH] init_techs

[Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Sep 24, 2001 at 01:11:42AM -0400, Justin Moore wrote:

>    We have standardized error handling through the cmd_reply function.

It's better to standardize more.  The quality of error messages is
poor (you want "argument %d of the %s command must be a %s") and
consistent wording and formatting has to be maintained by hand.

> And what if I want to parse a float?  Or a float*?  Or a long, long*,
> void*, or something else we haven't even thought of yet?  We leave them
> trying to smash a square peg into a round hole.

Most arguments are of a standard type: a number, a valid player name,
a valid directory, an arbitrary alphanumeric identifier, a number.

>    And I maintain that your way lies scores of programmers that want to
> strangle someone because there is only The One (or Four) True Way(s) to
> handle this stuff.  IMHO, Perl is the best way to parse strings; I'm just
> trying to give programmers a content-oblivious, Perl-like way to parse
> incoming data.

Your plans are clearly a big improvement.
 
> -jdm

-- 
Reinier