Re: ptrdiff_t misuse

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Stephen J. Turnbull" <address@hidden>
> Cc: address@hidden,
>     address@hidden,
>     address@hidden,
>     address@hidden
> Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2012 21:02:32 +0900
> 
> Eli Zaretskii writes:
> 
>  > Not for someone who hacks Emacs sources.  [EMACS_INT is] like
>  > Lisp_Object: you get used to it very quickly and use it naturally
>  > after that.
> 
> Well, it isn't "like" Lisp_Object; it *is* Lisp_Object!

Yes, as long as you don't use USE_LISP_UNION_TYPE (or
CHECK_LISP_OBJECT_TYPE in the current development sources), in which
case it's not.

>  > The type name actively resists that.  The "ptr" part is one problem,
>  > the "diff" part is another.  None of them is related to the typical
>  > usage of the positional values.
> 
> Huh?  The only way I can understand that is that people who have no
> clue about programming in C are programming in C!

"No clue" is an exaggeration, IMO.  One can program in C without
remembering by heart all of its obscure data types.  Latest standards
add more and more of them.

> But I'm not going to be reviewing, most likely.  I just wanted to
> point out that there is a school of thought opposed to yours.

I have no doubt that it exists, just look at the Emacs sources
lately ;-)