[PATCH 5/7] S3C64XX: Add platform data and driver resources for IDE controller driver.

[Håkon Løvdal]

2009/11/1 Ben Dooks <ben-linux at fluff.org>:
> On Sun, Nov 01, 2009 at 01:56:43PM +0900, Thomas Abraham wrote:
>> +     if (!pd) {
>> +             printk(KERN_ERR "%s: no memory for platform data\n", __func__);
>> +             return;
>> +     }
>> +     s3c_device_cfcon.dev.platform_data = pd;
>
> doing:
>
>        if (!pd)
>                printk(KERN_ERR "%s: no memory for platform data\n", __func__);
>        else
>                s3c_device_cfcon.dev.platform_data = pd;
>
> would be better.

I do not quite understand why this would be better. In the former case
the normal operation (e.g. s3c_dev... = pd;) is written directly without
any extra indentation and is not buried (deep) down in some error handling.

Writing code in that style makes it very easy to read with a mental filter like

     if (test) {
             ERROR HANDLING, ERROR HANDLING, ERROR HANDLING, ERROR HANDLING;
             return;
     }
     NORMAL CASE, NORMAL CASE, NORMAL CASE, ;

See also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/114342/what-are-code-smells-what-is-the-best-way-to-correct-them/223881#223881.

BR Håkon Løvdal