more questions about efficient C code

[Guy Harris]

> I personally think that programming is a tool for all and not a science
> for a few.  It is simply a matter of making it understandable to all
> who are involved with a project, programmers and non-programmers alike.

How inclusive is your "all"?  It's silly to expect everybody to understand
all that's involved in programming.  Should all automobiles be constructed
using technology understandable by "all"?  No.  Most people don't have the
background to understand how a catalytic converter works, or example.  It's
sufficient to construct automobiles so they're *usable* by all.  The same is
true of software.  Software should be usable by the widest possible
collection of people, but the person constructing the program shouldn't care
whether the person using it could understand the code when presented to
them.

The C programming language is a tool.  A person using a tool is assumed to
have some minimum amount of knowledge about the tool they're using.  I think
the "if ((stream = fopen(filename, mode)) == NULL)" idiom, or the "a++"
idiom, is in that minimum.  Sneaky code like "a = (b = c) + d" is not.

	Guy Harris