The 1 true style

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

I was debating whether I should eve post this topic, because clearly there is no battle to fight.

Everyone know k&r is the way to go. Who needs a new line for a brace? Not us.

Allman is annoying and Whitesmith is just strange.

Having said this, I bet this topic will be deleted, due to the fact that nobody could ever argue with my aforementioned convictions

Code: Select all

private void determineBestStyle(int styleChoice)
{
    if(styleChoice == K_R){
          println("Obviously!");
    } else {
          throw new ErrorException("This could never be the case");
    }
}

edit: fixed some things..

[Robin S]

I don't do that, because when I first started programming the sources I taught myself from all used the "open and close your braces vertically above each other" paradigm (for want of a better word). I guess I just got used to it.

[pieaholicx]

I mostly use K&R, but I've had to use Allman style for a lot of projects. I don't have a problem with either of them, however I will say that Allman style defines blocks of code better than K&R does.

[joeframbach]

I read the thread title and I was really hoping this would be a discussion about #define TRUE 1
I was disappointed.

I like to use 0 for FALSE and >0 for true. If I want to see if an int is not 0, I use
if (!!myint) {
...
}

[Hammer]

For myself, I like Allman. However, my main requirement for style is that, whatever you decide to do, do it consistently! I regularly get handed code from beginners whose reaction to suggestions to maintain a consistent style is "Do I haaaaave to?" Then, after listening to them whine, I get to plow through code that uses three different indenting styles selected at random when they bother to indent at all. Grrrrrrrrr...

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

For myself, i like Allman. However, my main requirement for style is that, whatever you decide to do, do it consistently! I regularly get handed code from beginners whose reaction to suggestions to maintain a consistent style is "Do I haaaaave to?" Then, after listening to them whine, I get to plow through code that uses three different indenting styles selected at random when they bother to indent at all. Grrrrrrrrr...

I hate when people hand me inconsistent code....Grr as well

[Rysto]

Code: Select all

private void determineBestStyle(int styleChoice){
    if(style choice == K_R){
          println("Obviously!");
    } else {
          throw new ErrorException("This could never be the case");
    }
}

This is not K&R style. This is Java style. K&R style is this:

Code: Select all

private void determineBestStyle(int styleChoice)
{
    if(style choice == K_R){
          println("Obviously!");
    } else {
          throw new ErrorException("This could never be the case");
    }
}

I used to use Allman style but several jobs programming Java converted me to Java style. The ease I had switching has convinced me that it mostly doesn't matter, although Whitesmiths style is weird. Can we all agree that GNU style sucks, though?

[davean]

Style is a meaningless convention. No one who can actually code cares.

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

>.>
Whoops... well then, I like java style. But I fixed the OP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style


Hmmm, if these are religious wars, then davean is an atheist. I never knew how to argue with atheists

[pieaholicx]

Hmmm, if these are religious wars, then davean is an atheist. I never knew how to argue with atheists

That's the problem with them, you just can't.

To be honest, davean is perfectly right. Except in Python. You can't mess with Python's style. They enforce it.

[davean]

Except in Python. You can't mess with Python's style. They enforce it.

Nothing a small bit of LISP and Emacs can't fix ...

[pieaholicx]

Except in Python. You can't mess with Python's style. They enforce it.

Nothing a small bit of LISP and Emacs can't fix ...

Fuck. I lose.

[rrwoods]

I'm in the "I don't care as long as it's consistent" camp; although, when I code I prefer to use the Allman style, the reason being that this:

Code: Select all

if(condition) {
   statement();


to me looks too similar to this:

Code: Select all

if(condition)
    statement();


but a decent editor with brace highlighting (or better: format-on-save (thanks Eclipse!)) will take care of this anyway.

[EvanED]

Can we all agree that GNU style sucks, though?

YES.

"First off, I'd suggest printing out a copy of the GNU coding standards, and NOT read it. Burn them, it's a great symbolic gesture."
- Linus Torvalds

As for me, I used to use Allman, but I've switched to K&R after being forced to use it for an project. I don't particularly care between those.

Some "peculiarities" to my personal style:
All blocks get braces, even if they consist of only a single statement

If the condition on a branch is multi-line, the opening brace gets it's own line. In other words,

Code: Select all

if(foo
   || foo)
{
    ...
}

rather than

Code: Select all

if(foo
   || foo) {
    ...
}

However, such conditions are a smell and should be avoided if practical. (I waffle on whether operators such as the || in the above example go at the end of the first line or beginning of the second.)

[d3adf001]

i find allmen by far the easiest on the eye and finding blocks. also the lines for brackets doesnt bother me much since they make screens that have 80+ rows.

[Lothar]

I'm a fan of the Allman style, but I don't mind the K&R style either. After looking at the Wikipedia article on indent style, I am surprised that I don't really mind the Whitesmiths-type styles. I find the GNU style impractical though.

As long as it's consistent, I guess I'm fine with it. I'll use the Allman style for now, though.

[EvanED]

i find allmen by far the easiest on the eye and finding blocks. also the lines for brackets doesnt bother me much since they make screens that have 80+ rows.

YES! Coding standards that prohibit lines above 80 characters really bug me.

[d3adf001]

i find allmen by far the easiest on the eye and finding blocks. also the lines for brackets doesnt bother me much since they make screens that have 80+ rows.

YES! Coding standards that prohibit lines above 80 characters really bug me.

I was talking about rows. my laptop is somewhere around 165x70 and i know they make higher resolution monitors. I think that if you are getting 80+ chars per line its getting kind of long unless its a function definition

[EvanED]

I was talking about rows. my laptop is somewhere around 165x70 and i know they make higher resolution monitors. I think that if you are getting 80+ chars per line its getting kind of long unless its a function definition

Me fail English? That's unpossible!

[photosinensis]

I neither have nor desire style. My code is always in one line. ALWAYS.

Well, except for the preprocessor directives in C/C++. Or when I'm in a language with syntactically significant whitespace (Python, Ruby, I'm looking at you). For loops don't work quite as well.

Now, if someone could only explain to me why we're using the damn semicolon all the time, I'd be, well, maybe not happy, but you get the idea.

[Embryo]

I use Allman, but I'm in the "Who cares" camp.

In my experience, code's readability or lack thereof bears very little connecting to which style you consistently use.

[d3adf001]

I was talking about rows. my laptop is somewhere around 165x70 and i know they make higher resolution monitors. I think that if you are getting 80+ chars per line its getting kind of long unless its a function definition

Me fail English? That's unpossible!

that makes perfect sense to me. i even read it twice

[Rysto]

that makes perfect sense to me. i even read it twice

EvanED was making fun of himself for misreading a post...

[Number]

Proper coding conventions follow this guy's suggestions for unmaintainable code.

Seriously though, I'm on board for vertically aligned braces.

[wing]

Vertically aligned. THERE IS NO OTHER.

Code: Select all

if(true)
{
     for(;;)
     {
          try
          {
               foo();
          }
          catch(Exception fail)
          {
               bar();
          }
     }
}


However, if your bracket-tree extends more than one line on a standard issue console, you'd better fucking comment your close brackets.

[d3adf001]

wing im pretty sure thats allman

[notzeb]

Code: Select all

if (blah) {
    stuff1;
    stuff2;
} else if (stuff) blah;
    else while (hmm) if (hungry) hmm /= 2;
        else {
            --hmm;
            goto label;
        }

Edit: obviously, real tabs. And there's nothing I hate more than the "smart tabs" I keep being force-fed

[trickster721]

Code: Select all

function a()
      {
      if (b > c) {...;}
      else
            {
            ...;
            ...;
            }
      }

People look at me weird, but I have trouble reading it any other way.

Real tabs, not spaces. And none of this arguments split up onto multiple lines buisness.

[Dingbats]

K&R with spaces. I guess there's no rational reason not to use real tabs, though.

[davean]

Vertically aligned. THERE IS NO OTHER.

There is another and it is the false god who's temptation (can you actually be tempted by something so vile?) must be resisted.

[Rysto]

K&R with spaces. I guess there's no rational reason not to use real tabs, though.

Yes, there is. Too many people editors don't understand how to properly mix tabs and spaces to indent and align code without depending on a particular tab width.

[trickster721]

K&R with spaces. I guess there's no rational reason not to use real tabs, though.

Yes, there is. Too many people editors don't understand how to properly mix tabs and spaces to indent and align code without depending on a particular tab width.

What the hell does that even mean? Why are we mixing tabs and spaces? Why does it matter how wide a tab is?

Wait, are you one of those people who make a function call into a ten-line peice of ASCII art? Because I thought my Master destroyed the last of your wicked style in the Battle of the Jade Swan. Not a rational reason.

[OfficiallyHaphazard]

What the hell does that even mean? Why are we mixing tabs and spaces? Why does it matter how wide a tab is?

Agreed!

[Amnesiasoft]

I use Java style (though I despise the language itself ). I just think the code looks cleaner that way. No wasted lines on a single bracket. And spacing things out using a combination of tabs and spaces is great, if only people knew how to do it properly...TABS are for indents, SPACES are for alignment, it's not that hard. And now we need a religious wars thread on this (or do we have onle already? Or could this thread take care of it too?)

Though looking at that wiki article...I'm kind of liking Pico style.

[EvanED]

I use Java style (though I despise the language itself ). I just think the code looks cleaner that way. No wasted lines on a single bracket. And spacing things out using a combination of tabs and spaces is great, if only people knew how to do it properly...TABS are for indents, SPACES are for alignment, it's not that hard. And now we need a religious wars thread on this (or do we have onle already? Or could this thread take care of it too?)

There's one in the coding forum. I'm sure if you revive it the mods will bring it over here.

Though looking at that wiki article...I'm kind of liking Pico style.

Are you sadistic, man?

[Pesto]

I tend to use Allman style with two spaces as an indent.

[trickster721]

No wasted lines on a single bracket. And spacing things out using a combination of tabs and spaces is great, if only people knew how to do it properly...TABS are for indents, SPACES are for alignment, it's not that hard.

Because line feeds are so expensive these days. And I still want to know what "alignment" is and why we're doing it.

[rrwoods]

For people that wrap long lines, alignment is getting things to line up like you want. Like

Code: Select all

if(thisIsALongConditional ||
   thisIsALongConditionalToo)
{
   // stuff
}


Or if you (for some reason) like to line up variable declarations:

Code: Select all

double x;
int    y;
long   z;


And I agree that you should use spaces for that.

[blob]

Then, after listening to them whine, I get to plow through code that uses three different indenting styles selected at random when they bother to indent at all. Grrrrrrrrr...

http://www.gnu.org/software/indent/

[Pesto]

No wasted lines on a single bracket. And spacing things out using a combination of tabs and spaces is great, if only people knew how to do it properly...TABS are for indents, SPACES are for alignment, it's not that hard.

Because line feeds are so expensive these days. And I still want to know what "alignment" is and why we're doing it.

I think this is what is being referred to.

Code: Select all

function someFunction(int someParameter)
{
    // with alignment
    while(someParameter >= someUngodlyLongFunctionCallThatDoesSomethingImportant()
       && someParameter <= someOtherImportantFunctionCall())
    {
        doStuff();
    }

    // without alignment
    while(someParameter >= someUngodlyLongFunctionCallThatDoesSomethingImportant()
    && someParameter <= someOtherImportantFunctionCall())
    {
        doStuff();
    }

}