* Ron Garret <ron@flownet.com> [Jan 23. 2008 14:17]:
On Jan 22, 2008, at 3:07 PM, Bruno Haible wrote:
Richard B. Kreckel wrote:
For me the shortcut operators as in a+=b are more readable than the long a=a+b form.
I do admit that I find the shortcuts more readable, too.
I think it depends. When you are summing up a power series,
sum += factor/(2*n+1)
makes perfect sense. But I also have seen things like this:
x += x >> 2;
which really is less readable than
x = 1.25 * x;
<puzzlement> Don't those two statements do different things? </puzzlement>
yes-ish: the first should rather be used for integers (as a matter of style). If used for floats then x += x >> 2; // x = 1.25 * x; shows that comments are useful indeed. And of course you should use x *= 1.25; 8-)) The shortcut versions are definitely nicer for the very simple cases as in a += b; In the case x += x>>2; (assume x integer) one might argue that a temporary is avoided to make the code more readable (ignoring what the compiler generates). Usage as in a += (c *= ++b)>>2 are of course horrible and only indicate the programmer is a l33t wannabe.
rg
cheers, jj