Question

One normal procedure to implement debugging is the use of

#ifdef DEBUG

...debugging tests...

#endif

Sometimes, a typical “checking” algorithm is needed in some parts of the code, and so one would normally like to wrap it on a function, such that the code is only called when DEBUG flag is defined. Let that function be called myDebug();

I see two natural approaches for this: either ifdef is added on each time myDebug() is called, like this:

#ifdef DEBUG

myDebug();

#endif

Or myDebug is defined as:

void myDebug()
{
#ifdef DEBUG

...code...

#endif
}

Basically, the first avoids the function calling, while the second avoid putting the code with a lot of #ifdef/#endif.

Is there any “standard” convention to choose one of the two, or another way that I don’t know? Is is worth to choose the second from the “styling” point of view?

Thanks

Answer 1

I’d go with number 3:

#ifdef DEBUG
#define myDebug(x) myDebug(x)
#else
#define myDebug(x) {}
#endif

This way, there’s no pesky #ifdefs everywhere in the code, and for a non-debug build no code will be generated.