[tor-dev] Summer of Privacy applicant, Multi-threading

[Kim Reece]

Hello,

I see several folks doing brief intros here so I'll do so as well.
Most of my application is in already, just finishing up the patch. I'm
a Mathematics undergrad, 3rd year come Fall. I've used multi-threading
in coursework and in an internship I did at JPL/NASA. I want to expand
the multi-threading in Tor this summer.

For my patch I'm working on #3569 (Refactor socks parsing). It won't
be a complete implementation of that bug this week, but I aim to
complete the first part of it, ie. the refactoring internal to the
function to expose the state model clearly in code structure. To that
end I have one quick code style question:

Is clarity preferred over the (very short) body of a conditional only
occurring in one place? I'm encountering at least once instance where
the choice is between repeating a (very short) code block, thereby
introducing the potential that one section of it may in the future be
edited without the other receiving the same edit (even though they're
right next to each other), or retaining a gnarly conditional that took
a truth table for me to be sure I had the right end of. If code
occurring exactly once is a priority, the gnarliness can be repaired
with an explanatory comment, but I'd like to know which is preferred.

Thanks,
-- Kim