[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] GET_RL_VLC can hide function parameters

[Ivan Kalvachev]

On 7/22/08, Erik Hovland <erik at hovland.org> wrote:
> The function parameter named 'n' is pretty popular in libavcodec. The
> macro GET_RL_VLC also uses 'n'. That means that the parameter is hidden
> w/in that macro. If the name of that int is changed to length, then the
> parameter is never hidden.
>
> Functions that get their 'n' hidden by that macro:
> ff_msmpeg4_decode_block
> mpeg2_fast_decode_block_non_intra
> mpeg2_decode_block_intra
> mpeg2_decode_block_non_intra
> mpeg1_fast_decode_block_inter
> mpeg1_decode_block_inter
> mpeg1_decode_block_intra

In the math it is quite common to say stuff like "From first to the
n-th member". The "n" is just short of "number" and e.g. in the very
same function it is used together with nb_bits.
More over we, have level and now length, 2 different variables that
start with "le" have approximately same number of characters, this
could actually make function harder to read as you'd need a little bit
more awareness to distinguish the variable names. If you really insist
on the change, then use the
same name as it is in the structure "len".

I hope your next patch would not be replacing each "i" with "index" ;)