[SC-L] Compilers

[SC-L Subscriber Dave Aronson]

Tim Hollebeek [mailto:tholleb at teknowledge.com] wonders:

 > are shops that insist on warning free compiles really that rare?

Yes.  I've worked for or with many companies over the years, totalling probably somewhere in the mid-teens or so.  In all that, there was, to the best of my recollection, only ONE that insisted on it, other than my own "one man show".  Add to that, numerous open source apps I've compiled; I haven't kept track of how many were warning-free, but it's rare enough that I consider it a pleasant surprise.

In several projects, I fixed some nasty bugs (inherited from other people) by turning warnings on (they were often totally suppressed!), and fixing the things that the warnings were trying to warn me about.  This is of course obvious to you and me, and probably to most of this list, but apparently not to the vast majority of programmers (even so-called software engineers), let alone people in any position of authority to set such policies.  :-(

-Dave

-- 
Dave Aronson
"Specialization is for insects."  -Heinlein
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