style question

  • Thread starter Torsten Mueller
  • Start date
T

Torsten Mueller

Where does it come from to make spaces everywhere but not between a
keyword and a condition? I'm confronted with code looking like that:

if( x == 3 && y == 7 && z == 1024 )
{
for( int i = 0; i < 1000 ; i++ )
{
}
}

It's a company style guide convention. I would write it like this:

if (x==3 && y==7 && z==1024)
{
for (int i=0; i<1000 ; i++)
{
}
}

I find this much more readable.

The style guide also forbids to make a space in method declarations or
definitions:

class MyClass
{
void MyMethod(int param);
}; ^ no space!

void MyClass::MyMethod(int param)
{ ^ no space!
}

Is there any serious reason for this? Is this .NET or what??

T.M.
 
B

Bo Persson

Torsten said:
Where does it come from to make spaces everywhere but not between a
keyword and a condition?

This is religious. Why are some people catholics or protestants?
I'm confronted with code looking like that:

if( x == 3 && y == 7 && z == 1024 )
{
for( int i = 0; i < 1000 ; i++ )
{
}
}

It's a company style guide convention. I would write it like this:

if (x==3 && y==7 && z==1024)
{
for (int i=0; i<1000 ; i++)
{
}
}

And I would write it

if (x == 3 && y == 7 && z == 1024)
{
for (int i = 0; i != 1000; ++i)
{
}
}

because that is obviously so much better.

Just see how good it looks! :)
I find this much more readable.

The style guide also forbids to make a space in method declarations
or definitions:

class MyClass
{
void MyMethod(int param);
}; ^ no space!

void MyClass::MyMethod(int param)
{ ^ no space!
}

Is there any serious reason for this?

Yes, it would just look ugly.

In my mind, the parameter list is an integral part of the function.
For some reason, the condition of the if-statement is not.
Is this .NET or what??

Don't think so.


Bo Persson
 
E

Erik Wikström

Where does it come from to make spaces everywhere but not between a
keyword and a condition? I'm confronted with code looking like that:

if( x == 3 && y == 7 && z == 1024 )
{
for( int i = 0; i < 1000 ; i++ )
{
}
}

It's a company style guide convention. I would write it like this:

if (x==3 && y==7 && z==1024)
{
for (int i=0; i<1000 ; i++)
{
}
}

I find this much more readable.

The style guide also forbids to make a space in method declarations or
definitions:

class MyClass
{
void MyMethod(int param);
}; ^ no space!

void MyClass::MyMethod(int param)
{ ^ no space!
}

Is there any serious reason for this? Is this .NET or what??

When it comes to style there are usually no objective reasons at all. My
suspicion is that the space between keywords and expressions comes from
languages which does not require parenthesis around the expression, like
BASIC:

IF $x = 0 THEN
...
END
 
T

Torsten Mueller

Erik Wikström said:
My suspicion is that the space between keywords and expressions
comes from languages which does not require parenthesis around the
expression, like BASIC:

I think it's just because all other keywords (class, typedef, return,
case) and also all integral types do require a space or a delimiter.
These conditional keywords just do not because they require a
condition in brackets. But I would treat them as keywords as well.

T.M.
 
P

Pascal J. Bourguignon

Torsten Mueller said:
I think it's just because all other keywords (class, typedef, return,
case) and also all integral types do require a space or a delimiter.

Yes, that is a barely bearable inconsistency. Let's

#define CLASS(C) class C
#define TYPEDEF(T) typedef T
// return allows () since you can always put () around an expression.
#define CASE(C) case C
 
S

Stefan Ram

Torsten Mueller said:
Where does it come from to make spaces everywhere but not between a
keyword and a condition? I'm confronted with code looking like that:

I can only legitimate my own personal style, which I give here:

Indentation within Braces

An indentation of just one space often is too small to be seen
clearly, because the natural width and form of characters
often varies by an amount that is not very much smaller than a
space. Therefore, the indentation should amount to at least
two positions. In order not to waste horizontal spaces, an
indentation of exactly two positions is chosen. This means,
that the left position of the next level is two larger than
the position of the directly enclosing level.

Indentation by two positions within a block

{ ++x;
++x; }
^ ^
0 2

Bad: A small indentation by one position is not always visible
clearly

{++x;
++x; }

Good: The indentation by two positions is visible clearly

{ ++x;
++x; }

Bad: A large indentation by more than two positions wastes
horizontal space with no additional benefit

{ ++x;
++x; }

Spaces within braces

In mathematics, there are often no spaces at the inner side of
parentheses or braces in expressions, but spaces are used
indeed at the inner side of braces in set notation, when the
braces contain a description (not when they contain a list).

Spaces in set notation

{ x | x > 2 }

This style is adopted here: One space is written at the inner
side of braces.

Spaces at the inner side of parentheses within a block

{ ++x; }

This style is consistent with the indentation by two
positions, because only using this style, corresponding parts
of two lines have the same position.

Bad: No space after the first brace, the two statements are
misaligned

{++x;
++x; }

Good: One space after the first brace, the two statements are
properly aligned

{ ++x;
++x; }

Bad: Two spaces after the first brace, the two statements are
misaligned

{ ++x;
++x; }

There are some exceptions to this rule: No spaces are used
within empty braces "{}" and between two or more closing
braces of the same direction "}}", except, when the first one
of them is part of an empty pair "{} }" (an empty pair of
braces if treated like a single non-braces character).

Unified rules for all Brackets

For simplicity and uniformity, the rules from above apply to
all kinds of brackets, including parentheses, braces (curly
brackets), square brackets, and angle brackets.

Spaces within parentheses and square brackets

{ y = f( x )+ g() + a[ 2 ]; }

Binary operators are sorrounded by a space, but the space is
omitted, when there already is a space on the other side of a
sequence of brackets directly beside the operator: By this rule,
" )+" is written instead of " ) +".

Representation of the Syntactical Structure

A method declaration in Java consists of a head and a body.
The following representation shows this structure:

Good formatting according to the structure

void alpha() // head
{ beta(); } // body

The following formatting is misleading, because the line break
does not match the structural break:

Bad line break within the body

void alpha() { // head and the beginning of the body
beta(); } // the rest of the body

This formatting also would make no sense for blocks within
blocks. So it is often not used for such blocks. Therefore
even the adopters of this style can not use it uniformly.

Opening Braces Look Like "bullets"

There is a well known style to publish lists in typography
using bullets sticking out on the left, looking like this:

Common list representation with bullets in typography

o This is the first point
of this list, it is written
here just as an example.

o Here is another entry

o This is another example given
just as an example to show
an example

The braces of the beginnings of blocks stand out on the left
just the same, when the formatting being described here is
used, so they look quite naturally as beginning-of-a-block
markers, when one is used to the typographical list notation:

Left braces look like bullets to mark blocks

{ printf(); printf();
printf(); printf(); printf();
printf(); printf(); }

{ printf(); printf(); }

{ printf(); printf(); printf();
printf(); printf();
printf(); }

Neutrality

Someone wrote this C code:

while( fgets( eingabe, sizeof eingabe, stdin ))
if( sscanf( eingabe, "%d", &wert )!= 1 )
fprintf( stderr, "Please enter a number!\n" );
else
summe += wert;

It amazes me that I can add braces by my style conventions
(not changing the meaning of the code)
without the need to change the position of any character of
the given code or need to change the overall number of lines:

The code from above plus braces

while( fgets( eingabe, sizeof eingabe, stdin ))
{ if( sscanf( eingabe, "%d", &wert )!= 1 )
{ fprintf( stderr, "Please enter a number!\n" ); }
else
{ summe += wert; }}

Insofar, my bracing style might be considered non-obtrusive.

Lines per Contents

Lines containing only a single brace waste vertical space, so
less contents fits on the same screen space. Therefore, I usually
avoid them, but sometimes I do use them, when this helps to
increase readability. I also might temporarily use them when editing
a section of code. Of course, they would help programmers paid or
being judged by the lines-of-code productivity.
 
S

Stefan Ram

=?UTF-8?B?RXJpayBXaWtzdHLDtm0=?= said:
When it comes to style there are usually no objective reasons at all. My
suspicion is that the space between keywords and expressions comes from
languages which does not require parenthesis around the expression, like
BASIC:
IF $x = 0 THEN
...
END

The BASIC interpreter of the Pet 2001 stored an expression like
»POS(0)« with 3 tokens: »POS(«, »0«, and »)«. So, when the user
entered

10PRINT POS (0)
LIST

, it would list this as

10 PRINT POS(0)

IIRC. This might have made the user believe, that there was
something wrong with the space after »POS«, because the
interpreter has adjusted his input by removing the space.
Anyway, there was no use in typing it, when it was removed
immediatly, so the user might have abandoned this habbit.
 
T

tomisarobot

Where does it come from to make spaces everywhere but not between a
keyword and a condition? I'm confronted with code looking like that:

if( x == 3 && y == 7 && z == 1024 )
{
for( int i = 0; i < 1000 ; i++ )
{
}
}

It's a company style guide convention. I would write it like this:

if (x==3 && y==7 && z==1024)
{
for (int i=0; i<1000 ; i++)
{
}
}

I find this much more readable.

The style guide also forbids to make a space in method declarations or
definitions:

class MyClass
{
void MyMethod(int param);
}; ^ no space!

void MyClass::MyMethod(int param)
{ ^ no space!
}

Is there any serious reason for this? Is this .NET or what??

T.M.

There's at least one reason to write code consistently, on a personal
and organizational level. If you adhere to a style, your text
searches become much simpler.
 
T

tony_in_da_uk

There's at least one reason to write code consistently, on a personal
and organizational level. If you adhere to a style, your text
searches become much simpler.

Fair point, but easily addressed by a few scripts.

Live and let live I say. Let the "owner" of some code do it any way
they want. If they're not delivering, and you think the coding style
is part of the problem (e.g. people who's indentation is unrelated to
their scopes tend to struggle making reliable systems), mention the
issues and offer some practical tip. If they can't solve the problem
(their way OR yours), get rid of them. If you take over ownership,
change it any way you want.

If you're the boss and you have a burning need to be draconian, ask
for some code before the interview and don't accept anyone who's style
differs from yours unless they agree to prostrate themselves before
your spacing and kiss your parenthesis. You'll be doing them a
favour, as they can tell you where to go before they tell their old
boss. Have the decency not to badger the unsuspecting after they
join.

Really, the amount of corporate energy wasted on this over the years
is staggering. I think it's because the important things, like
getting the right "patterns" used at an architectural level, can't be
done by a central committee scared of the real world. ;-P

Cheers,
Tony
 
J

James Kanze

Where does it come from to make spaces everywhere but not
between a keyword and a condition?

I don't know. The standard doesn't require it, and I've never
seen it.
I'm confronted with code looking like that:
if( x == 3 && y == 7 && z == 1024 )
{
for( int i = 0; i < 1000 ; i++ )
{
}
}
It's a company style guide convention.

Interesting.

One common convention is to distiguish between the operator (...)
and the punctuation (...) by using a space before the latter,
but never before the former, e.g. "if ( someCondition )", but
"someFunction( args )". (Whether there is a space after the (
and before the ) tends to vary, depending on the convention.) I
suspect that whoever wrote your companies guidelines was
thinking of function calls when he said no space before a (, and
didn't think to distinguish between function calls (where
'(...)' is an operator) and punctuation.
I would write it like this:
if (x==3 && y==7 && z==1024)
{
for (int i=0; i<1000 ; i++)
{
}
}
I find this much more readable.

How much white space, in general, is desirable, depends largely
on taste and cultural conventions. In France, normal
typographic conventions use considerably more white space than
elsewhere, and programmers tend to prefer "spaced out" code; in
Germany, normal typographic use very little space, and
programmer tend to prefer something tighter. But of course,
even within a given community, there is a lot of variance.
The style guide also forbids to make a space in method declarations or
definitions:
class MyClass
{
void MyMethod(int param);
}; ^ no space!
void MyClass::MyMethod(int param)
{ ^ no space!
}
Is there any serious reason for this? Is this .NET or what??

Well, apparently they are attempting to distinguish functions
from other use of the parenthesis; although I tend to use the
space before the ( for this, I do think that making the
distinction is worthwhile.
 
P

Puppet_Sock

Where does it come from [snip]
It's a company style guide convention. [snip]
The style guide also [snip]
Is there any serious reason for this? Is this .NET or what??

It's a company style guide convention. That *is* a
serious reason.

Unless your company is the company that produced .NET,
then it's not .NET. I've no idea why you would think
it had anything to do with .NET.

A company style guide isn't to get things perfect.
It's to get all the developers making things the
same way. Often there are no powerful reasons for
doing things any particular way. But when you have
more than a few developers, enough that somebody
thought a company style guide is important enough
to bother writing, then it is important that all
the developers do things the same way.

When you write some chunk of text and your cow-orker
reviews it, you don't want him to be tripping over
where you put the spaces. You want the review
comments that come back to actually be addressing
the quality of your code. Similarly when you
review his code, you want to be able to spend
your time untwisting his code and figuring out
what is going on, not worrying about whether he
has the "right" spaces in there.

Or, six months or a year from now when you have
to do maintenance work, you want to be able to
spend your time worrying about what the code
should do. You don't want a big religious war
over how the code should look.

Or, in the words of many parents, I don't want
justice, I want peace and quiet. Getting bent
over the exact details of code formatting is
a waste of time. Besides, you can always get a
code prettifier utility and make it pretty.
Socks
 

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