* NEWS: Improve wording for unused-value warnings.

[bison.git] / NEWS

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 94e9cc17cfe181f07df0734bb9e78a64b3f87273..176ce6f27df09ec78e2954172852b64eeade8674 100644 (file)
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -5,21 +5,29 @@ Changes in version 2.1a:
 
 * New warning: unused values
   Typed right-hand side symbols whose value are not used are reported.
-  For instance
+  For instance:
 
-       exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; }
-          | exp "+" exp
-         ;
+     exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; }
+       | exp "+" exp
+       ;
 
   will trigger a warning about $5 of the first rule, and $3 in the
-  second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule).  To avoid this
-  warning, let Bison believe the value is used, e.g.
+  second ($1 is copied to $$ by the default rule).  This example
+  most likely contains two errors, and should be rewritten as:
+
+     exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $$ = $1 ? $3 : $5; }
+       | exp "+" exp         { $$ = $1 + $3; }
+       ;
+
+  However, if the original actions were really intended, the warnings
+  can be suppressed by letting Bison believe the values are used, e.g.:
 
-       exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $$ = $1 + $3; $5; }
-          | exp "+" exp         { $$ = $1; $3; }
+     exp: exp "?" exp ":" exp { $$ = $1 ? $1 : $3; (void) $5; }
+       | exp "+" exp         { $$ = $1; (void) $3; }
+       ;
 
-  This helps catching lost values and memory leaks: if a value is
-  ignored, its associated memory will never be reclaimed.
+  The warning is intended to help catching lost values and memory leaks.
+  If a value is ignored, its associated memory typically is not reclaimed.
 
 * %destructor vs. YYABORT, YYACCEPT, and YYERROR.
   Destructors are now called when user code invokes YYABORT, YYACCEPT,