David VanHorn wrote:
> No, I see it as a risky technique with definite, but marginal
> advantages. IMHO, the risk of confusion and mistakes outweigh the
> benefits.

OK, step back from the computer, put down that data sheet.  Programming
and electronics definitely aren't for you since there's a risk of making a
mistake.  You need a totally risk free profession, although I can't think
of one off the top of my head.

I don't know why you singled out macros as "risky".  You can screw up any
construct by not giving it enough thought, although most are benificial
when used properly (which is generally not that hard because they were
designed to do that).  Macros are no different.

For example, which is more likely to be written correctly every time:

     subwf  27      ;compare to the max limit
     skip_wgt       ;above the limit ?
or:

     subwf  27      ;compare to the max limit
     btfsc  status, c ;above the limit ?

By the way SKIP_WGT stands for "skip if W was greater than".  If that
doesn't convince you, how about something more complicated like:

     fifo_get myfifo, myfifo_size, reg0 ;get next FIFO byte into REG0

I won't bother writing the 10 instructions this expands into, but you can
see them at the bottom of STD.INS.ASPIC at http://www.embedinc.com/pic if
you want to (unless it's too risky being on the internet).

OK, I've bashed this enough, but I couldn't let a statement that silly go
unchallanged.


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