When do you use "if ( a = b )"? (was Re: Funny mistake)

[Jim Giles]

In article <11109 at dog.ee.lbl.gov>, torek at elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek) writes:
|> [...]
|> Smaller source code, yes.  Smaller or faster object code---well, if
|> your compiler generates different code for
|> 
|> 	if (a = b)
|> 
|> than for
|> 
|> 	a = b;
|> 	if (a)
|> 
|> then your compiler is not worth what you paid for it.  [...]

Even if it was _free_!  The above 'optimization' was present
in Fortran compilers more than 30 years ago - and their _fastest_
machines were slow compared to today's micros (so the excuse that
doing the above analysis makes the compiler too slow or complex is
garbage).

J. Giles