Archives: October 2009

Why Inline Comments Are Generally a Bad Idea

— Category: Coding Style/Conventions

Bellow is a single function commented in two different ways. Which one is better?

NSString* MD5StringOfString(NSString* inputStr)
{
    //UTF8 encoding is used so the hash can be compared with hashes of ASCII strings
    NSData* inputData = [inputStr dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    unsigned char outputData[CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH];
    CC_MD5([inputData bytes], [inputData length], outputData);

    NSMutableString* hashStr = [NSMutableString string];
    int i = 0;
    for (i = 0; i < CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH; ++i)
        [hashStr appendFormat:@"%02x", outputData[i]];
 
    return hashStr;
}
NSString* MD5StringOfString(NSString* inputStr)
{
    //convert the string to UTF8 encoded byte data
    NSData* inputData = [inputStr dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    //calculate the hash
    unsigned char outputData[CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH];
    CC_MD5([inputData bytes], [inputData length], outputData);

    //convert hash to a hexadecimal string
    NSMutableString* hashStr = [NSMutableString string];
    int i = 0;
    for (i = 0; i < CC_MD5_DIGEST_LENGTH; ++i)
        [hashStr appendFormat:@"%02x", outputData[i]];
 
    //return the hexadecimal string
    return hashStr;
}

Coding Tip: Replace Complicated Conditions With Boolean Variables

— Category: Coding Tips

Consider the following if statement:

if(dragOperation != NSDragOperationCopy && NSPointInRect(currentMouseLocation, self.bounds)){
    //do something
}

Even though you may have worked out what the condition represents, it probably took you a little longer than it should. It’s complicated, making it time consuming to read, and prone to bugs upon modification. Thankfully, there is an easy remedy: