[Fyren]

Originally Posted by Timocop Will 'decl' have a comeback or is there a heuristic in the compiler now?

No to both.

[Timocop]

Nah i'm just curious. I thought there is somekind of optimization heuristic for that in the new compiler.
I'm already using static everywhere, literally. Even micro optimizations. Because i'm using a vServer with dedicated servers on it.

[nergal]

Originally Posted by Timocop Nah i'm just curious. I thought there is somekind of optimization heuristic for that in the new compiler. I'm already using static everywhere, literally. Even micro optimizations. Because i'm using a vServer with dedicated servers on it.

decl is deprecated because EVERY variable you declare is auto initialized to 0.
same with arrays I believe.

[404UserNotFound]

Originally Posted by ddhoward The consensus is that decl is pretty pointless, is dangerous, was a mistake to have implemented into SourcePawn in the first place, and if what you're doing actually requires decl to perform adequately, then an alternative to what you're doing should be found (such as making the variable static/global if possible, etc.)

decl was also something that threw me off when I first started doing this stuff. I never did understand or learn when to use it and when not to.

EDIT: Ah, auto-initialization of variables to 0. Makes sense given I remember reading something about variables containing "trash" data somehow in regards to initialization.

[Timocop]

Originally Posted by nergal decl is deprecated because EVERY variable you declare is auto initialized to 0. same with arrays I believe.

If you use decl, they dont. decl just allocates memory but doesnt set it, i think malloc() in C++ is the closest example. But yea, static/global variables is still best for large arrays (because it has no initialization process).
Here the differences in assembly:

Decl (Stack)

Spoiler

PHP Code:

public DeclTest()
{
    decl String:sDeclTest[2048];
    Format(sDeclTest, sizeof sDeclTest, "Hello World");
} 


CODE 0    ; b68
    proc    ; DeclTest
    ; line 13
    break    ; b6c
    ; line 14
    break    ; b70
    ;$lcl sDeclTest fffff800
    stack fffff800
    ; line 15
    break    ; b7c
    push2.c 900 800
    ;$par
    push.adr fffff800
    ;$par
    sysreq.n 2 3    ; Format
    ;$exp
    stack 800
    zero.pri
    retn

New (Stack)

Spoiler

PHP Code:

public NewTest()
{
    new String:sDeclTest[2048];
    Format(sDeclTest, sizeof sDeclTest, "Hello World");
} 


CODE 0    ; bb0
    proc    ; NewTest
    ; line 18
    break    ; bb4
    ; line 19
    break    ; bb8
    ;$lcl sDeclTest fffff800
    stack fffff800
    zero.pri
    addr.alt fffff800
    fill 800
    ; line 1a
    break    ; bd8
    push2.c 90c 800
    ;$par
    push.adr fffff800
    ;$par
    sysreq.n 2 3    ; Format
    ;$exp
    stack 800
    zero.pri
    retn

Static (Stack)

Spoiler

PHP Code:

public StaticTest()
{
    static String:sDeclTest[2048];
    Format(sDeclTest, sizeof sDeclTest, "Hello World");
} 


CODE 0    ; c0c
    proc    ; StaticTest
    ; line 1d
    break    ; c10
    ; line 1e
    break    ; c14
    ; line 1f
    break    ; c18
    push3.c 1118 800 918
    ;$par
    sysreq.n 2 3    ; Format
    ;$exp
    zero.pri
    retn


DATA 0    ; 918
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
dump 6c6c6548 6f57206f 646c72

[headline]

EDIT: Ah, auto-initialization of variables to 0. Makes sense given I remember reading something about variables containing "trash" data somehow in regards to initialization.

Exactly. The trash data is just what happened to occupy that space at the time. Thus, "garbage"

[nergal]

Originally Posted by Headline Exactly. The trash data is just what happened to occupy that space at the time. Thus, "garbage"

not a big deal, anyone coding with C/Assembler/C++ have learned to deal with garbage values.
Especially after creating (pointer) variables without initializing their new values.

[nergal]

idea in terms of removing/reducing use of global variables.

Obviously to use data from each forward/event functions, we have to put variables to a global scope.

Why not have the option to be able to pass data similar to how GTK3+ does?
https://developer.gnome.org/gobject/...signal-connect

you hook to a signal aka forward and pass data to it? Similar to timers using datapacks, passing multiple data can be done using handles.

[BassPower]

how change to new syntax:
public void OnAutoUpdateChange(Handle conVar, const char[] oldVal, const char[] newVal)
{
g_bAutoUpdate = bool StringToInt(newVal);
}

g_bAutoUpdate = bool StringToInt(newVal); no compile

[WildCard65]

view_as<bool>(StringToInt(newVal));