Re: Change definitions of bitmap flags to bit-shifting style

On 12/6/20 11:44 AM, James Coleman wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 6, 2020 at 1:25 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz
> <mailto:michael@paquier.xyz>> wrote:
>
>     On Sat, Dec 05, 2020 at 10:31:09PM -0300, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
>     > The hexadecimal representation is more natural to me than
>     bit-shifting,
>     > so I would prefer to use that style too.  But maybe I'm trained
>     to it
>     > because of looking at t_infomask symbols constantly.
>
>     If we are going to change all that, hexa style sounds good to me too.
>     Would it be worth an addition to the docs, say in [1] to tell that
>     this is a preferred style?
>
>     [1]: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/source-conventions.html
>     <https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/source-conventions.html>?
>     --
>     Michael
>
>
>
> In my view the bit shifting approach makes it more obvious a single
> bit is being set, but on the other hand the hex approach makes it
> easier to compare in debugging. 
>
> I’m not really sure which to prefer, though I think I would have
> leaned slightly towards the former. 
>
>

Perhaps we should put one style or the other in a comment. I take Tom's
point, but after the number of bits shifted gets above some number I
have trouble remembering which bit it is, and while of course I can work
it out, it can be a very minor nuisance.


cheers


andrew