On Sun, Jan 4, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Bob goolsby <bob.gool...@gmail.com> wrote: > Not 'wrong headed', just a compiler compiler optimization. By putting > the declarations before the usage, you reduced the number of complete > passes through the source by one and made the parsing code easier. > This is an artifact from the time when Machine-Time was expensive and > Programmer-Time was (relatively) cheap. >
It's a human optimization, too. When the programmer is responsible for allocating and deallocating memory, it makes sense to group declarations together, so the programmer can quickly tell what's out there, and check to make sure everything is correctly initialized and destroyed so the program doesn't leak. In a language like Perl, which automates garbage collection, the most effective way to keep track of memory and prevent leaks is usually to properly scope variables. Best, -- j -------------------------------------------------- This email and attachment(s): [ ] blogable; [ x ] ask first; [ ] private and confidential daggerquill [at] gmail [dot] com http://www.tuaw.com http://www.downloadsquad.com http://www.engatiki.org values of β will give rise to dom!
