[fpc-pascal] H2pas tool vs others, C header translation

Michael Van Canneyt michael at freepascal.org
Sat Aug 26 12:57:44 CEST 2017



On Sat, 26 Aug 2017, Sven Barth wrote:

>>
>> Sorry for being naive. Why not simply use a boolean ?
>>
>> I thought all this BOOL mess was just meant to be able to interface with C
>> libs slightly easier.
>>
>> Instead of
>>
>> If (SomeCfunction()<>0) then
>>   DoSomethingStupid;
>>
>> it allows you to write - in appropriate cases - the following:
>>
>> if (SomeCfunction()) then
>>   DoSomethingStupid;
>>
>> I don't think we should promote BOOL and friends too much. They are a
> convenience (which IMHO should not have been introduced in the first place).
>>
>> Promoting them to first-class Pascal citizens is IMHO a bad idea.
>
> Did you read the article that had been linked? That's an important point
> that is raised in there.

I did read it.

I think the programmer *must* worry about the details and must definitely
NOT use the booleans for anything C related. That was my point.

Attempting to cater for C code using BOOL or whatever type is misplaced.
C does not have a boolean type.

The standard says for "if" :

"In both forms, the first substatement is executed if the expression compares unequal to 0."

Treat it as such.

Michael.



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