In message 014701c852ed$4b0c4040$6103170a@atmel.com you wrote:
Why not use symbolic return values?
Because then nobody knows what the symbols mean.
"return SUCCESS;" seems much more appropriate than "return 0;" or "return -1;"
These constants are unmistakeable for anyone who ever wrote a program under any Unix system...
if(myfunction() == SUCCESS) {
}
is much more clear than
if(myfunction()) {
}
Not to me. The former needs a lookup of the define, the latter is obvious.
In properly structured programs, the representation of an enumeration variable is irrelevant. I.E: You do not need to lookup the value of SUCCESS, (but you do need to know that the return value "SUCCESS" means that the call did not fail).
You have the power to ack/nack patches, I am sure you are capable of nack'ing patches which return SUCCESS when the call fails.
Obviously code like
"if (myfunction() > SUCCESS)" is not going to be acceptable, but that should probably be replaced by
"if (myfunction() != SUCCESS)"
Best regards, Ulf Samuelsson