Re: Why keysym constants in gdk/gdkkeysyms.h are defined as macros, not as an enum?

[Mark Vender <markv743 yahoo co uk>]

On 06/26/2012 07:57 PM, Matthias Clasen wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Mark Vender <markv743 yahoo co uk> wrote:
>
>
> > It's impossible for an application to break when enum values are added. They
> > end up as integers within the code anyway and unless their values change,
> > API/ABI stays the same.
>
> I could think of some ways. But anyway, the keysyms are defines
> because that's how they were done initially, and there's no compelling
> reason to change it.

Well, using enums would make wrapping keysyms much easier on the gtkmm 
side. Currently the only possible solution is to parse gdkkeysyms.h 
using  a script similar to gdkkeysyms-update.pl.

What I don't understand is why a patch must necessarily demonstrate a
big improvement. I'm suggesting only to change

#define GDK_KEY_***
<...>

to

typedef enum {
     GDK_KEY_*** = ***,
     <...>
} GdkKeySym;

which has no chance of negative effects. Even if we add values, they 
are still stored in an int, that is, GdkKeySym is never used. Thus, in 
my opinion, even a small improvement is worthwhile.

Cheers,
Mark