annotate PROGRAMMING_NOTES @ 12229:18f0dadb29cf

[gaim-migrate @ 14531] SF Patch #1366481 from Michael Carlson "The function gtk_smiley_tree_insert() in gtkimhtml.c is using up (on my system) the most CPU of all the functions in gaim whenever the preferences box is opened (tested by opening the preferences box 50 times and measuring with oprofile). The function is called some 297 times each time the prefs box is opened, and each time we call strlen() on a (usually 3 or 4) character string to see if the string is empty or not. I've eliminated the unnecessary call to strlen by checking the first element, and I've changed the while {} loop to a do {} while loop, because since we return if the string is empty at the beginning of the function, the same check on the first iteration of the loop is unnecessary. I believe it's faster for every case, even if only by a little bit." I don't know how necessary this is, but it doesn't hurt and it doesn't negatively impact the readability of the code. I also fixed an existing piece of code for which the compiler issued a warning. committer: Tailor Script <[e-mail]>

Notes on keeping GAIM OS independant
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General
-------
- Use G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S and G_DIR_SEPARATOR for paths

- Use g_getenv, g_snprintf, g_vsnprintf

- Use gaim_home_dir instead of g_get_home_dir or g_getenv("HOME")

- Make sure when including win32dep.h that it is the last header to
  be included.

- Open binary files when reading or writing with 'b' mode.

  e.g: fopen("somefile", "wb");

  Not doing so will open files in windows using defaut translation mode. 
  i.e. newline -> <CR><LF>

Paths
-----

- DATADIR, LOCALEDIR & LIBDIR are defined in wingaim as functions.
  Doing the following will therefore break the windows build:

  printf("File in DATADIR is: %s\n", DATADIR G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "pic.png");

  it should be:

  printf("File in DATADIR is: %s%s%s\n", DATADIR, G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S, "pic.png");

PLUGINS & PROTOS
----------------

- G_MODULE_EXPORT all functions which are to be accessed from outside the
  scope of its "dll" or "so". (E.G. gaim_plugin_init)

- G_MODULE_IMPORT all global variables which are located outside your
  dynamic library. (E.G. connections)

  (Not doing this will cause "Memory Access Violations" in Win32)