Avoid bool ?

[Bruno Haible]

Regarding this patch:

> * HACKING (Avoid bool): New subsection.

I would vote for encouraging, not avoiding, the use of 'bool'.

* Code is more readable if it uses 'bool'. The reader does not have to
  wonder "is this variable or parameter a counter or a boolean?" (This
  can be mitigated if you have a policy to name all variables of type
  bool, all parameters of type bool, and all functions of type bool
  with either a suffix '_p' or a prefix 'is_'. But do you really do so?
  And how would you enforce such a policy?)

* There are portability problems [1], but they can easily be mitigated:
  Use module 'stdbool' from gnulib.
  Also, if you use 'bool' in the signature of functions exported by libraries,
  guaranteeing binary compatibility between different compilers on old platforms
  like Solaris 9 requires installing a public header file named 'pk-stdbool.h'
  or similar. GNU Libunistring does this for 10 years; I think nowadays you
  can, in a first approximation, get away without it and just rely on the
  gnulib's and the platform's <stdbool.h>.

* You want to have more contributors? Then use a present-day coding style.
  Similarly, GNU libc used to use K&R function declaration style for long
  after 2000. This hampered development, because it puts off contributors.
  Not using 'bool' is similar.

Just my 2 cents.

Bruno

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/stdbool_002eh.html