Re: [PATCH] Add an array that describes which opcodes are supported by the RDWR and SHEEPDOG backends.

On 11/07/2013 01:51 PM, FUJITA Tomonori wrote:
> On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:46:36 -0800
> Dan Mick <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>>>> I see, thanks. Using the bitmaps is simpler than the array of char if
>>>>> you calculate delta and such?
>>>>
>>>> I think using the array with opcode names is simpler for a human to
>>>> comparing when reading the sourcecode.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I had a bitmap of 32 bytes, one bit for each opcode,   and I also
>>>> tried using an array of 256 bytes, one byte 0/1 for each opcode
>>>> but it was horrible to read from a human standpoint.
>>>>
>>>> When reading the code and the bitmap/array it was very difficult to
>>>> see which opcodes were supported and which were not
>>>> by just looking at the bits.
>>>> It was also errorprone and I did several mistakes when building the
>>>> bitmap manually.
>>>
>>> Why you built it manually? You can do something like
>>>
>>> set_bit(WRITE_6, bitmap_addr);
>>>
>>> ?
>>>
>>> As usual, you can steal bitmap functions from Linux kernel.
>>
>> Is it worth it to mess around with bits when chars are easily
>> manipulated?  Sure, it's 8x the data, but it's much easier to dump,
>> examine in debuggers, etc., and it's 256 bytes; hardly worthy of
>> notice.
>> Bitmaps are a pain in general.
>
> Most of us (kernel people) are familar with bitmap ops rather than
> functions that we would invent. That's my point.
>

Sure, I get that; I just mean it's not worth it for the space savings 
when the usability hit is there, IMO.  But it's a matter of opinion.