On Fri, April 28, 2006 5:18 pm, Chris W. Parker wrote: > Richard Lynch <mailto:ceo@xxxxxxxxx> > on Monday, April 24, 2006 11:50 PM said: > >> So no matter what was actually typed, *I* would see: >> >> function foo ($x) { >> //body >> } >> >> but some heretic who doesn't know any better would see: >> function foo($x) >> { >> //body >> } >> >> Now *THAT* would be a feature worth paying for in an IDE! :-) > > Setting aside the fact that you're completely wrong about your > preference... ;) > > What, in your mind, is the advantage to putting the opening brace on > the same line as the function call, logic statement, etc.? (Btw, this > is a serious question!) Okay, but let's do keep this fairly serious, and let's NOT let it devolve into the usual religious flame-war this topic gets to... Since it IS a religious question, I'm not super-interested in discussing it with too many go-rounds... The reasons I chose the brace-on-same-line style, way long time ago: #1. Screen real estate and lines of code are fairly precious to me. Lines wasted for { on a line by itself is just, err, wasteful. :-) Obviously, some consider that { line by itself useful, but I don't consider the cost/benefit ratio sufficient to warrant the expense. #2. The indentation of the following lines is more than sufficient, with practice, for the eye to follow the program flow. An extra line, almost blank, does not make it any easier to "see" the code flow. To see this, you have to practice reading both styles in equal measure, however, and most programmers don't really do that. #3. Obviously, whatever one gets used to typing for oneself is the EASIEST to read. But if you end up reading a lot of other people's code anyway, you pretty much have to live with all the different styles. I'd rather use the more compact style, since I have to be able to read all of them anyway. #4. To me, the brace and what is "going on" in the program at that juncture are inseparable from the logic that makes the brace necessary. I'm not sure how to express this well, but the best I can do is: The logic and its brace are one and the same, not separate things, and they should be on the same line because they are one and the same. The code block body is indented, because it is encompassed by the program logic, in the sense that the body is either executed or not based on the logic. The braces are not something to be executed or not executed, but are simply delimiters for the code block body. They are more a part of the logical structure of the program logic, then they are a part of the body, because they delimit the structure, rather than get executed (or not). #5. If you print it out on that old-school 3-line alternating green-bar fan-fold paper, and you hang it up across the room, it's much prettier as ASCII art with the braces on the same line. The preceding sentence is obviously a very subjective statement. But I'm totally serious here -- I made this decision in college circa 1981, and I wrote the same long program both ways, and hung the two versions up on the wall side-by-side, and I liked the one with { on the same lines better. I even solicited my non-programmer roommates' opinions, and they also preferred the braces on the same line as ASCII art. The extra practically blank lines version was not as pretty as ASCII art from a distance. Note that I (and obviously my roommtes) had no pre-conceived preference before this ASCII art gallery test. I daresay an experienced programmer is going to pick the style they prefer as "prettier." Though it would be an interesting experiment for some psychology student to A/B compare with programmers, non-programmers, experienced programmers, etc... Well, there it is, fwiw. -- Like Music? http://l-i-e.com/artists.htm -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
