proposed change to style(9): require yoda style if statements

[Max Laier]

On Tuesday 11 May 2010 21:36:11 Eitan Adler wrote:
> My proposal is simple:
> require that any if statement that compares a constant to a mutable
>  variable be written as
> if (constant == variable)
> instead of
> if (variable == constant)
> 
> this prevents an extremely common programming error
> if (variable = constant)
> 
> While this is almost always found in testing sometimes thing can slip
> through and writing it using the former method will generate a compiler
> warning.

With proper -W flags, "if (var = const)" also yields a warning:

  warning: suggest parentheses around assignment used as truth value

and style already tells you to avoid unnecessary parentheses.

Chaning style(9) in such a fundamental way almost, always isn't a good idea.  
It's simply unrealistic to change all current code to comply and the 
difference between old and new code will just add to the confusion.

Best,
  Max