Still porting Linux code to Mac, I’ve been trying to keep a useful habit: using the #warning and #error macros. This new code is riddled with #ifdef’s checking whether or not we’re trying to build on a Mac, and using alternatives to the Linux-only system calls, but in parsing these large chunks of code, sometimes I forget what I’m doing. How horrible would it be to accidentally leave empty the Mac-only code block when it’s meant to actually do something.

So, whenever I open up one such block, I add a little macro:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

#ifndef MAC
// ... The Linux-only code
// ... takes up
// ... a lot
// ... of space
#else
#error "Don't forget to implement it as Mac!"
#endif

At least I’ll always catch it at compile time, and when I fix/add the Mac-only code, then I can go ahead and remove that macro. It’s not that I’m forgetful, but I’ve shot myself in the foot so much at this point.