• d-bugmail puremagic.com Aug 17 2007

d-bugmail puremagic.com writes:

http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1427

           Summary: Generated .di files look ugly and are hard to read
           Product: D
           Version: 1.020
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P2
         Component: DMD
        AssignedTo: bugzilla digitalmars.com
        ReportedBy: wbaxter gmail.com


Header files can be a good source of documentation for competent programmers. 
By stripping out all the implementation cruft, a header file gives you a
concise summary of all the types and functions a module provides in a format
that is easy to navigate and search with a simple text editor.  HTML Docs
provide a concise summary too, but require firing up a browser and since we are
programmers who spend the majority of our time writing code, it's usually
easier to just open up a header file than dig through a bunch of web pages.

So the point of all this is to say that .di files should be generated with a
human reader in mind.  Currently the generated files throw away almost all
formatting, which makes them very hard for a human to read.

There's no reason why the di generator can not also be a source beautifier at
the same time, generating source code with even more consistent indentation and
formatting than the original code.


--