magic constant -1

Pavel Stehule <pavel.stehule@gmail.com> writes:

we use a value -1 as two values: a) unknown typmod, b) unknown
location. Can we substitute it by some better identifier?

Maybe: UnknownTmod, UnknownLoc ... UnspecTmd, UnspecLoc???

Doesn't really seem worth the trouble, especially since the checks
for "unspecified" are coded as negative/nonnegative rather than
simple equality.

regards, tom lane

2009/11/5 Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>:

Pavel Stehule <pavel.stehule@gmail.com> writes:

we use a value -1 as two values: a) unknown typmod, b) unknown
location. Can we substitute it by some better identifier?

Maybe: UnknownTmod, UnknownLoc ... UnspecTmd, UnspecLoc???

Doesn't really seem worth the trouble, especially since the checks
for "unspecified" are coded as negative/nonnegative rather than
simple equality.

I worked on enhancing an area where typmod is used, and I had a small
problem - because it wasn't simply clean, where -1 is typmod or
location.

This should be an idea for enhancing and increasing code quality. -1
is probably last wide used magic constant in pg.

Pavel