Dear KV, I’ve been reading your rants in Queue for a while now and I can’t help asking, is there any code you do like? You always seem so negative; I really wonder if you actually believe the world of programming is such an ugly place or if there is, somewhere, some happy place that you go to but never tell your readers about.
/*
* struct pmc_mdep
* Machine dependent bits needed per CPU type. */
1
struct pmc_mdep { uint32_t pmd_cputype; /* from enum pmc_cputype */ uint32_t pmd_npmc; /* max PMCs per CPU */ uint32_t pmd_nclass; /* PMC classes supported */ struct pmc_classinfo pmd_classes[PMC_CLASS_MAX]; int pmd_nclasspmcs[PMC_CLASS_MAX];
A Happy Programmer
/* * Methods */
While I will try not to take exception to your calling my writings “rants,” I have to say that I am surprised by your question. KV is a happy, cheerful, outgoing kind of guy who not only has a “happy place,” but also carries it with him wherever he goes, sharing joy and laughter with everyone around him and giving sweets to small children (cough).
Now that I’ve bleached my brain, I can answer a bit more honestly. Yes, in fact, there are good systems and I have seen good code, sometimes even great code, in my time. I would like to describe one such chunk of good
int (*pmd_init)(int _cpu); /* machine dependent initialization */ int (*pmd_cleanup)(int _cpu); /* machine dependent cleanup */
Questions for Kode Vicious? E-mail him at kv@acmqueue.com—
if you dare! And if your letter appears in print, he may even
send you a Queue coffee mug, if he’s in the mood. And oh yeah,
we edit letters for content, style, and for your own good!
code right now. Unfortunately, it will require a bit of background to explain what the code is, but please stick with me. Perhaps you can relax by going to your “happy place” first.
One of my recent projects has been to extend support for something called hwpmc (hardware performance monitoring counters) on FreeBSD, the operating system I work on. As the name indicates, hwpmc is implemented in hardware, and in this case hardware means on the CPU. I don’t know if you’ve ever read CPU or chip documentation, but there is little in our industry that is more difficult to write or less pleasant to read. It’s bad enough that the subject is as dry as the surface of the moon, but it’s much worse because the people who write such documentation either don’t understand the technology
References:
Archives