Creating a border using ncurses

Question

The biggest question is if it's worth it to use a useless if statement to make the x and y variables local away from the main statement.

    //Unconventional part, make it so that x and y are local variables
if(true){
        int x,y;
        //set x and y to be the width + height of the terminal
        getmaxyx(stdscr,y,x);
        for(int i = 0; i < x; i++){
                //top border
                mvaddch(0,i,'#');
                //bottom border
                mvaddch(y - 1,i,'#');
        }
        for(int i = 0; i < y; i++){
                //left border
                mvaddch(i,0,'#');
                //right border
                mvaddch(i,x - 1,'#');
        }
}

You could just have a block; the if(true) could be left out — qxz
– qxz, Commented Nov 26, 2016 at 6:12
@qxz, he wants to make x and y local variables. He asks if it's worth it. I would say that he should just make it a function. — Incomputable
– Incomputable, Commented Nov 26, 2016 at 6:43
@Incomputable I was just making a comment that you can have a plain block without the if. I agree that I'd make it a function — qxz
– qxz, Commented Nov 26, 2016 at 6:44

janos · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-27 07:39:18Z

3

You can create a block without an if statement. For example, these are equivalent:

{
    // some code
}

if (true) {
    // some code
}

But it's not a good practice to create blocks like this. It's a code smell, suggesting to wrap // some code in a dedicated function instead.

Anytime you think some neat trick is "unconventional", it's most probably a bad practice. Don't do it, fix it.

edited Nov 27, 2016 at 7:39

answered Nov 26, 2016 at 7:24

janos

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Roland Illig · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-27 20:02:52Z

1

In addition to what @janos said:

Your formatting style looks weird. This is because in mvaddch(0,x - 1,'#') there is plenty of space around the - operator, but none around the ,. This commonly suggests that the , binds more tightly than the -, which is wrong.

So ~~either use no space at all or~~ use a space after the comma as well.

edited Nov 27, 2016 at 20:02

answered Nov 27, 2016 at 8:18

Roland Illig

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