FOR YOUR EYES ONLY..ONLY THE STRONG..ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE A CELEBRATION OF SOUL..SOUL FOOD..FOOD OF LOVE..LOVE WALKED IN..IN GODS HANDS..HANDS ON A HARD BODY..BODY DOUBLE..DOUBLE TEAM..TEAM AMERICA WORLD POLICE..POLICE ACADEMY..POLICE ACADEMY 3 BACK IN TRAINING..TRAINING DAY..DAY FOR NIGHT..NIGHT AND THE CITY..THE CITY..CITY OF JOY..JOY RIDE..RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY..COUNTRY LIFE..LIFE OR SOMETHING LIKE IT..IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT..ONE NIGHT STAND..STAND IN..IN OLD CALIFORNIA..CALIFORNIA SPLIT..SPLIT SECOND..SECOND BEST..BEST MEN..MEN WITH GUNS..GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN..THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN..THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE..RIDE WITH THE DEVIL..THE DEVIL RIDES OUT..OUT COLD..COLD FEVER..FEVER PITCH..PITCH BLACK..BLACK AND WHITE..WHITE WATER SUMMER..SUMMER LOVERS..LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS..STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET..MEET JOE BLACK..BLACK LIKE ME..ME MYSELF I..I WANT TO LIVE..LIVE AND LET DIE..DIE MOMMIE DIE..DIE MONSTER DIE..DIE HARD..HARD TIMES..TIMES SQUARE..SQUARE DANCE..DANCE WITH A STRANGER..STRANGER IN THE HOUSE..HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN..FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL..FROM HELL..HELL UP IN HARLEM..HARLEM RIVER DRIVE..DRIVE ME CRAZY..CRAZY AS HELL..HELL NIGHT..NIGHT MOTHER..MOTHER NIGHT..NIGHT AND DAY..DAY OF THE DEAD..DEAD OF NIGHT..NIGHT FALLS ON MANHATTAN..MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY..MYSTERY ALASKA..ALASKA SPIRIT OF THE WILD..THE WILD..THE WILD ONE..ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING..THE KING AND I..I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN..GARDEN STATE..STATE OF GRACE..GRACE OF MY HEART..HEART CONDITION..CONDITION RED..RED EYE..EYE FOR AN EYE..AN EYE FOR AN EYE..EYE OF GOD..GOD TOLD ME TO..TO DIE FOR..FOR THE BOYS..THE BOYS..THE BOYS IN THE BAND..BAND OF THE HAND..THE HAND..THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE..CRADLE WILL ROCK..ROCK N ROLL HIGH SCHOOL..SCHOOL OF ROCK..ROCK STAR..STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE..PICTURE BRIDE..BRIDE OF THE MONSTER..MONSTER IN A BOX..BOX OF MOON LIGHT..MOONLIGHT MURDER..MURDER AND MURDER..MURDER IN THE FIRST..THE FIRST DEADLY SIN..SIN CITY..CITY BY THE SEA..SEA OF LOVE..LOVE AND DEATH..DEATH WISH..WISH UPON A STAR..A STAR IS BORN..BORN AMERICAN..AMERICAN HISTORY X..X THE MAN WITH THE X RAY EYES..EYES OF AN ANGEL..ANGEL BABY..BABY SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND..LEGEND OF THE LOST..THE LOST BOYS..BOYS AND GIRLS..GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN..FUN AND FANCY FREE..FREE WILLY..FREE WILLY 2 THE ADVENTURE HOME..HOME ROOM..ROOM AT THE TOP..TOP GUN..GUN CRAZY..CRAZY PEOPLE..PEOPLE WILL TALK..TALK OF ANGELS..ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES..FACES OF DEATH..DEATH SHIP..SHIP OF FOOLS..FOOLS RUSH IN..IN COLD BLOOD..BLOOD DIAMOND..DIAMOND MEN..MEN CRY BULLETS..BULLETS OVER BROADWAY..BROADWAY DANNY ROSE..ROSE RED..RED RIVER..RIVER OF NO RETURN..RETURN TO ME..ME WITHOUT YOU..YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU..YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE..ONCE AROUND..AROUND THE BEND..BEND OF THE RIVER..THE RIVER..THE RIVER WILD..WILD THINGS..THINGS TO COME..COME AND GET IT..IT TAKES TWO..TWO MEN WENT TO WAR..WAR OF THE WORLDS..THE WORLDS FASTEST INDIAN..INDIAN SUMMER..SUMMER OF 42..42 UP..UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL..PERSONAL BEST..BEST OF THE BEST..THE BEST OF EVERYTHING..EVERYTHING RELATIVE..RELATIVE FEAR..FEAR STRIKES OUT..OUT OF THE PAST..PAST MIDNIGHT..MIDNIGHT RUN..RUN SILENT RUN DEEP..DEEP BLUE..BLUE CAR..CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU..YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE..MY LIFE..LIFE AS A HOUSE..HOUSE PARTY 2..2 DAYS IN THE VALLEY..VALLEY GIRL..GIRL IN THE CADILLAC..CADILLAC MAN..MAN ON FIRE..FIRE IN THE SKY..SKY HIGH..HIGH SCHOOL HIGH..HIGH CRIMES..CRIMES OF PASSION..PASSION IN THE DESERT..DESERT HEARTS..HEARTS OF DARKNESS A FILMMAKERS APOCALYPSE..APOCALYPSE NOW..NOW YOU SEE HIM NOW YOU DONT..DONT BOTHER TO KNOCK..KNOCK OFF..OFF THE BLACK..BLACK HAWK DOWN..DOWN WITH LOVE..LOVE LIFE..LIFE WITH FATHER..FATHER OF THE BRIDE..BRIDE OF THE WIND..THE WIND AND THE LION..THE LION KING..KING OF THE JUNGLE..JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE..JUNGLE BOOK..BOOK OF LIFE..LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL..BEAUTIFUL GIRLS..GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS..GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS..GIRLS OF SUMMER..SUMMER CATCH..CATCH A FIRE..FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN..THE MOUNTAIN MEN..MEN DONT LEAVE..LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN..HEAVEN CAN WAIT..WAIT UNTIL DARK..DARK STAR..STAR WARS EPISODE V THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK..BACK TO THE BEACH..THE BEACH..BEACH PARTY..PARTY MONSTER..MONSTER HOUSE..HOUSE OF DRACULA..DRACULA DEAD AND LOVING IT..IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLDS FAIR..FAIR GAME..GAME OF DEATH..DEATH WISH V THE FACE OF DEATH..DEATH BECOMES HER..HER MAJESTY MRS BROWN..BROWN SUGAR..SUGAR AND SPICE..SPICE WORLD..WORLD TRADE CENTER..CENTER STAGE..STAGE FRIGHT..FRIGHT NIGHT..NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD..DEAD END..END OF DAYS..DAYS OF HEAVEN..HEAVEN AND EARTH..EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY..EASY MONEY..MONEY FOR NOTHING..NOTHING BUT TROUBLE..TROUBLE EVERY DAY..EVERYDAY PEOPLE..PEOPLE I KNOW..I KNOW WHERE IM GOING..IM GOING HOME..HOME ALONE..ALONE IN THE DARK..THE DARK HALF..HALF LIGHT..LIGHT OF DAY..DAY OF THE WOMAN..THE WOMAN IN RED..RED DAWN..DAWN OF THE DEAD..DEAD HEAT..HEAT AND DUST..DUST TO GLORY..GLORY ROAD..ROAD GAMES..GAMES PEOPLE PLAY NEW YORK..NEW YORK NEW YORK..NEW YORK COP..COP LAND..LAND OF THE DEAD..DEAD BANG..BANG BANG YOURE DEAD..DEAD MAN..DEAD MAN WALKING..WALKING AND TALKING..TALKING ABOUT SEX..SEX AND THE OTHER MAN..MAN OF THE HOUSE..THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS..SPIRITS OF THE DEAD..THE DEAD..DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS..CAMPUS MAN..MAN TROUBLE..TROUBLE IN PARADISE..PARADISE ROAD..ROAD HOUSE..HOUSE PARTY..HOUSE PARTY 3..3 NINJAS..3 NINJAS KICK BACK..BACK STAGE..STAGE BEAUTY..BEAUTY AND THE BEAST..THE BEAST..THE BEAST FROM 20000 FATHOMS

(Edited by Jeremy to reflect correct movie string length 312 that Benjamin found.)

Quoting you:

To that end, this is a book best read concurrently with one’s peers: discussing (and arguing about) what is beautiful, what isn’t beautiful, and why will help you discover and refine your own voice in your code. And doing this will enable you to write the most important code of all: code that is, if nothing else, beautiful to you.

I completely agree with this assertion. Perhaps others would get more from this book than I did in my (admittedly quick) perusal.

I particularly like your observation that the book is probably best digested with a discussion group. The first time I read Sutter’s Exceptional C++, I started it in a discussion group format, and found that to be quite educational.

Additionally, reading your comments regarding recursion and the stack — you’re dead on; however, I think even Kernighan points this out in the chapter. (He certainly points it out in the original Dr. Dobb’s article.)

All in all, I’m not trying to bash Beautiful Code. Really, I was just disappointed with what I saw when I was excited to finally get my hands on it.

I also happen to not completely agree with you about the Pike code, in part because it is broken for some classes of pathological input. I blogged about that here: http://blogs.sun.com/bmc/entry/beautiful_code

I hope you do end up buying (or otherwise reading) the book, if only because it would be interesting to read the resulting rants — many of which I would probably agree with…

Oh my God, the gaff! You’re right, and I stand corrected! Thanks!

(*wipes egg off face*)

be careful, this declares a function taking no arguments, returning an instance of MyClass.

Actually, as far as the linker is concerned, if we call sprintf the floating point libraries ARE used and cannot be stripped. It’s all because the linker cannot know what formatters are passed to sprintf, so it must include support for all formatters (including "%f"). The only way to get the linker to strip float point libraries is to not call sprintf. FreeRTOS did make this easy but just allowing me to turn off trace.

All in all, I have been impressed with FreeRTOS. I am a bit worried that it’s saving too much on the stack during ISRs, but until I see a problem, I need to stop being so anal.

GCC is a very flexible system, but with flexibility comes complexity. For example, there are options for removing unused symbols, but these are not included by default. I have a GCC build that was provided to me that does this and gets the ARM7 code size down to a value comparable to commercial compilers.

As far as libraries go, there are restricted versions around. For example, when setting up a CrossWorks project (an IDE for GCC) you get the option as to whether or not include floating point, and other options, in the string formatting function. I also find that the libraries that ship with CrossWorks use much less stack than those that come other distributions which is worth keeping in mind when working with a real time kernel.

Regards,
Richard.