Re: [PATCH 4/7] ident_split: store begin/end pairs on their own struct

On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, Jeff King [off-list ref] wrote:

Subject: ident_split: store begin/end pairs on their own struct

s/on/in/

When we parse an ident line, we end up with several fields,
each with a begin/end pointer into the buffer, like:

  const char *name_begin;
  const char *name_end;

There is nothing except the field names to indicate that
they are paired. This makes it annoying to write helper
functions for dealing with the sub-fields, as you have to
pass both sides. Instead, let's move them into a single
struct "name", with fields "begin" and "end". This will be
stored identically, but can be passed as a unit.

We have to do a mechanical update of "s/_/./" at each point
of use, but other than that, the fields should behave
identically.

Signed-off-by: Jeff King <redacted>
---
Suggestions welcome on the name "pointer_pair".

str_segment  ;-)

While writing this series, I also noticed that it would be more
convenient to have a pointer/len combination rather than two pointers.
You can convert between them, of course, but I found I was always
converting the other way.

I left it this way because it makes the mass-update mechanical (and
because now that I can pass the pair as a unit, I don't have to write
the same "ident->name_begin, ident->name_end - ident->name_begin" pair
over and over).