this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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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.