Super Lint

[Walter Bright]

Ivan Senji wrote:
> Walter Bright wrote:
>> Pragma wrote:
>>> Walter Bright wrote:
>>>> I've been interested in various ideas for static checking for common 
>>>> bug patterns for D. For example:
>>>>
>>>>     for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
>>>>     {    foo();
>>>>         break;
>>>>     }
>>>>
>>>> would be flagged as a suspicious use of break.

> But is it safe do declare the above example as a bug? Maybe that break 
> is placed there to see what just one pass of the loop does (maybe for 
> debugging purposes).

That certainly is the question. I don't think I'd want to see such code 
in released source, but:

1) is it legitimate for debug/test code?
2) can it come about as the side effect of some other coding pattern?
3) if it is made illegal, is that going to be a bigger problem than it 
solves?
4) does it really solve a problem?

For example, it could happen with (example found on the internet):

	for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
	{
		if (condition)
			action();
			break;
	}

where the user forgot to put { } around the else clause. It's sort of 
like how:

	for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++);
	{
		...
	}

is illegal in D (note the ; after the closing parenthesis). I've known 
people to spend many hours trying to track down this nearly invisible bug.