[FWP] Simplification #2

[Vicki Brown <vlb@cfcl.com>]

	# Problem - pad out a string
     # Here is the original snippet of code:

	    $nSize = length($str);

	    if ($nSize > 0 )
	    {
	        while ((($nSize + 1) % 4) != 0)
	        {
	            $nSize++;
	        }
	        $nSize++;
	        $nValue = $nOffset;
	        $nOffset += $nSize;
	    }

	# and the corresponding part where they pad out the string:

	    # Pad out the string with NULLs out to the nearest 4 byte mark.

	    while (((length($str) + 1) % 4) != 0)
	    {
	         $str .= "\0";
	         $nSize++;
	    }

	# you can change the loop to:

	while ((++$nSize % 4) != 0) {
		# the test does it all
	}

	# Or stop all this nonsense and just write:

	$nSize += 4 - ($nSize % 4);

	# Since what we are doing is computing:

	#  the length of the string + one null terminator +
	#  some null bytes to pad to a modulo four boundary.

	#  Note that our problem was simplified because we are always going
	#  to add at least one byte.

# I like this sort of "condensing" exercise. The best thing here is that
# the condensation doesn't simply obfuscate; it actually simplifies
-- --
        |\      _,,,---,,_       Vicki Brown <vlb@cfcl.com>
  ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   Journeyman Sourceror: Scripts & Philtres
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      '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) http://www.cfcl.com/~vlb  http://www.macperl.com

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