Re: Proposal: Add more compile-time asserts to expose inconsistencies.

Michael Paquier <michael(at)paquier(dot)xyz> writes:

> On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 06:46:24AM +0000, Smith, Peter wrote:
>> I have identified some OSS code where more compile-time asserts could be added.
>>
>> Mostly these are asserting that arrays have the necessary length to
>> accommodate the enums that are used to index into them.
>>
>> In general the code is already commented with warnings such as:
>> * "If you add a new entry, remember to ..."
>> * "When modifying this enum, update the table in ..."
>> * "Display names for enums in ..."
>> * etc.
>>
>> But comments can be accidentally overlooked, so adding the
>> compile-time asserts can help eliminate human error.
>
> For some of them it could help, and we could think about a better
> location for that stuff than an unused routine.

Postgres doesn't seem to have it, but it would be possible to define a
StaticAssertDecl macro that can be used at the file level, outside any
function. See for example Perl's STATIC_ASSERT_DECL:

https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/v5.30.0/perl.h#L3455-L3488

- ilmari
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