this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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Unused variable is an error which fails to compile.
Whoah, that seems like you'd flesh out code elsewhere, you know when you throw stuff together to make it work, and then fix it up to standards.
Feels like you should have to make git commits perfectly well before being able to compile...
Put that overwhelmingly intrusive thing in a hook checking out your commits instead (when you push your branch ofc).
You get used to it. The only time I really notice it these days is when I’m debugging and commenting out code.
So... A lot of the time?
"Nah, only when working..."
*when I'm doing debugging that requires commenting out code.
Most of the time, I don't comment out code. I run the code in a debugger, step through it, and see how the behavior deviates from what I expect. I mostly only resort to commenting out code if I'm having trouble figuring out where the problem is coming from, which isn't that often.
What reason is there for this when the compiler could just optimize that variable out of existence? This feels like the most hand holdy annoying "feature" unless I'm missing something.
Cleaner code. That's all.
If you need to take variable you don't use for some reason (like it's a function arg that has to follow an interface, but it doesn't need a specific parameter in this case), then you can prefix it with an underscore.
That's what warnings are for and
-werrorfor production builds in literally any other language. This has been a solved problem for a very long time.Sure. Tell that to the Go devs.
If the language weren't pushed by Google, nobody would pay it any attention. It's yet another attempt to "do C right" and it makes some odd choices in the attempt.
I for my part prefer it that way. Makes sure the code stays clean and nobody can just silence the warnings and be done with it. Because why would you accept useless variables that clutter the code in production builds? Imagine coming back after some time and try to understand the code again. At least you have the guarantee the variable is used somehow and not just "hmm, what does this do? ..... ah, it's unused"
...you don't accept them. Basically every programming language accepts some kind of
-werrorflag to turn warnings into errors. Warnings for development builds, errors for production builds. This has been a solved problem for a very long time. Not only is it assinine to force them to be errors always, it's semantically incorrect. Errors should be things that prevent the code from functioning in some capacity.Oh, that makes warnings errors and does not mean "ignore errors". I'm not too familiar with compiler flags. You could do some mental gymnastics to argue that the unused variable causes the compiler to exit and thus the code is not functioning and thus the unused variable is not a warning but an error :^)
It's a pretty standard flag in basically all compiled languages, just goes by a different name.
-werrorin C,-Werrorin Java,TreatWarningsAsErrorsin C#, etc.