code aesthetics
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I take care to ensure the aesthetics of my code. That spacing and formatting is consistent. I don't care if I'm writing throw away code or production code. The code should always look neat and tidy. Why don't other programmers do the same??? OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.? Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
It's a must. I like to be able to squint at code and see pretty patterns in the text, which is as near as dammit impossible if due care and attention has not been taken by the monkey bashing the keys (or if it's written in Perl :) ).
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I take care to ensure the aesthetics of my code. That spacing and formatting is consistent. I don't care if I'm writing throw away code or production code. The code should always look neat and tidy. Why don't other programmers do the same??? OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.? Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
Absolutely! There are tons of benefits to having and following a consistent style.
Marc Clifton wrote:
yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right?
Right. To me, code beautifiers defeat the purpose of having a code style/standard, which is that it should be simple enough for your programmers to internalize so they just automatically follow the standard which will help improve the quality of the code. Beautifying it "after the fact" doesn't achieve this.
Scott Dorman
Microsoft® MVP - Visual C# | MCPD President - Tampa Bay IASA [Blog][Articles][Forum Guidelines]
Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are. - Buckaroo Banzai
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Marc Clifton wrote:
OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
What I see is that every programmer has their own way of doing "good formatting" we tried for 2.5 years in meetings ( :rolleyes: ) to get a consensus, it was unreachable. We finally agreed on a format through a document forced into the chain, but no one will enforce it, so we still have the same status quo. I personally think every programmer on his own should write clean looking code, whether by beautifier or 1st time out writing I don't care. A team should have a tool to either verify consistency or beautify to consistant format. :)
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
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I try to do the same, but isn't this sort of relative, what looks good for one programmer may look like crap for another. Of course some rules are very basic (like not letting code be longer then the width of a normal screen) and should always be followed (I think)
If everyone is working for the same company they should all be following the same standard. This alleviates (mostly) the problem of relativity. Of course, getting everyone to agree and follow the standard is a completely different problem.
Scott Dorman
Microsoft® MVP - Visual C# | MCPD President - Tampa Bay IASA [Blog][Articles][Forum Guidelines]
Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are. - Buckaroo Banzai
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You should really expand this concept, and implement unnecessary casting where possible. :rolleyes:
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
Marc Clifton wrote:
OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
What I see is that every programmer has their own way of doing "good formatting" we tried for 2.5 years in meetings ( :rolleyes: ) to get a consensus, it was unreachable. We finally agreed on a format through a document forced into the chain, but no one will enforce it, so we still have the same status quo. I personally think every programmer on his own should write clean looking code, whether by beautifier or 1st time out writing I don't care. A team should have a tool to either verify consistency or beautify to consistant format. :)
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
El Corazon wrote:
we tried for 2.5 years in meetings ( ) to get a consensus, it was unreachable
You spent way too long debating it then. Best rule of thumb (especially if management has bought in to the concept of a standard and is willing to enforce it somehow) is to let it argue out for an hour or two, suggest some compromises (for the tab size issue, 3 generally works well) and if no one can still agree, make it a mandate.
El Corazon wrote:
I personally think every programmer on his own should write clean looking code, whether by beautifier or 1st time out writing I don't care.
The problem with that is you then loose the psychological aspects of writing "clean" code: The developer feels better about their skills because the code is easier to understand, works better the first time out, etc., so they want to take more ownership of the code. The more ownership they take, the less likely they will be to introduce new bugs in that code. Eventually it becomes a type of self fulfilling prophecy.
El Corazon wrote:
A team should have a tool to either verify consistency or beautify to consistant format.
Absolutely, but that isn't always possible depending on the language.
Scott Dorman
Microsoft® MVP - Visual C# | MCPD President - Tampa Bay IASA [Blog][Articles][Forum Guidelines]
Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are. - Buckaroo Banzai
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C# is easy, delete the last curly brace in the file, and just create it again. Voila, code formatted :)
xacc.ide - now with TabsToSpaces support
IronScheme - 1.0 alpha 4a out now (29 May 2008)leppie wrote:
C# is easy, delete the last curly brace in the file, and just create it again. Voila, code formatted
C++ is easy, with astyle integrated into your IDE, just type your code and it is formatted. ;P you don't even have to delete your last curly brace. ;P
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
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El Corazon wrote:
we tried for 2.5 years in meetings ( ) to get a consensus, it was unreachable
You spent way too long debating it then. Best rule of thumb (especially if management has bought in to the concept of a standard and is willing to enforce it somehow) is to let it argue out for an hour or two, suggest some compromises (for the tab size issue, 3 generally works well) and if no one can still agree, make it a mandate.
El Corazon wrote:
I personally think every programmer on his own should write clean looking code, whether by beautifier or 1st time out writing I don't care.
The problem with that is you then loose the psychological aspects of writing "clean" code: The developer feels better about their skills because the code is easier to understand, works better the first time out, etc., so they want to take more ownership of the code. The more ownership they take, the less likely they will be to introduce new bugs in that code. Eventually it becomes a type of self fulfilling prophecy.
El Corazon wrote:
A team should have a tool to either verify consistency or beautify to consistant format.
Absolutely, but that isn't always possible depending on the language.
Scott Dorman
Microsoft® MVP - Visual C# | MCPD President - Tampa Bay IASA [Blog][Articles][Forum Guidelines]
Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are. - Buckaroo Banzai
Scott Dorman wrote:
You spent way too long debating it then.
That is obvious from all of our meetings. Without demands from above, diverging interests, fears, or misconseptions drive the individuals in different directions. Our previous meeting before the last one was 4 hours... this last one was 6 hours. I imagine the next one will be all day. After that we might have to pay overtime for meetings.... obviously something is wrong when this happens. :) Thus lunar illumination. ;) ;) with the intent on expansion to permanent in intent. :-D
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
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I take care to ensure the aesthetics of my code. That spacing and formatting is consistent. I don't care if I'm writing throw away code or production code. The code should always look neat and tidy. Why don't other programmers do the same??? OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.? Marc
Standards There should be a convention that is followed by the development group. That standard should be enforced in the same spirit as dress code or curfew. It's a standard. Now if it's code you inherited from some developer you don't know and it's ugly and it sucks. I'm sorry about that. I must have let that slip out somewhere. :-\
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I take care to ensure the aesthetics of my code. That spacing and formatting is consistent. I don't care if I'm writing throw away code or production code. The code should always look neat and tidy. Why don't other programmers do the same??? OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.? Marc
I wish VS had a similar shortcut for stripping out Hungarian notation! :sigh:
Cheers, Vıkram.
"if abusing me makes you a credible then i better give u the chance which didnt get in real" - Adnan Siddiqi.
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Marc Clifton wrote:
OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
What I see is that every programmer has their own way of doing "good formatting" we tried for 2.5 years in meetings ( :rolleyes: ) to get a consensus, it was unreachable. We finally agreed on a format through a document forced into the chain, but no one will enforce it, so we still have the same status quo. I personally think every programmer on his own should write clean looking code, whether by beautifier or 1st time out writing I don't care. A team should have a tool to either verify consistency or beautify to consistant format. :)
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
El Corazon wrote:
we tried for 2.5 years in meetings
912 days of meetings? Damn! That must have been a bitch. I hope they provided lunch.
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
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Ooooooo - that strikes a nerve with ME alright. I am a column nazi. People. Can't we at least agree that code shouldn't be wider than 120 columns? (I prefer a width of 80 myself). And for GOD'S SAKE why won't some of you indent your code????? I don't care if it's 3 spaces or 4 or a tab or what, but PLEEEASE! I'm BEGGING YOUuuuuuuu......... Why? Why can't you just keep it on one screen and indent? Is the reason because it takes time to write it that way? (once) And it's just as easy for YOU to read it that way? (80 times) Whyyyyyyy??? I really wanna know...
120 columns? Are you still stuck on a CRT?
Todd Smith
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Scott Dorman wrote:
You spent way too long debating it then.
That is obvious from all of our meetings. Without demands from above, diverging interests, fears, or misconseptions drive the individuals in different directions. Our previous meeting before the last one was 4 hours... this last one was 6 hours. I imagine the next one will be all day. After that we might have to pay overtime for meetings.... obviously something is wrong when this happens. :) Thus lunar illumination. ;) ;) with the intent on expansion to permanent in intent. :-D
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
There are tools that can check formatting during checkin to systems like SVN. If the formatting isn't correct the file can either be rejected or the build marked as broken.
Todd Smith
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El Corazon wrote:
we tried for 2.5 years in meetings
912 days of meetings? Damn! That must have been a bitch. I hope they provided lunch.
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
someone 5 this for me! I can't on this phone. :) lunch? that would be illegal. I know a project (not ours) that was tri-service unification for one specific piece of hardware that was already in use by all 3 major groups, but without any common standard. They spent 10 years in meetings trying for consensus, never got it. But buying lunch would be a gift which is illegal to provide or accept. :-P
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
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I take care to ensure the aesthetics of my code. That spacing and formatting is consistent. I don't care if I'm writing throw away code or production code. The code should always look neat and tidy. Why don't other programmers do the same??? OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.? Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
Together with cool syntax highlighting, well laid out code makes you want to eat it. ;P
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I take care to ensure the aesthetics of my code. That spacing and formatting is consistent. I don't care if I'm writing throw away code or production code. The code should always look neat and tidy. Why don't other programmers do the same??? OK, I'm sure there are some out there. And yes, there are code beautifiers, so who really cares, right? What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.? Marc
BTW, I just finished 'slotting' new code into a decompiled ASP.NET application. It's so neat, but so truly ugly. This being urgent maintenance, I followed the existing coding style: dynamically adding HTML to a Label control for the report, filtered for a dynamically built SQL query, directly off user input. But wait, there is more; they used manual control-break code for grouping. :~
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120 columns? Are you still stuck on a CRT?
Todd Smith
CRT, 140 columns in VS203. Somewhat less in 2k8 because of how I have the sidebars sized. I also have an LCD but missed the switch from buying 1280x1024 to 1680x1050 screens by a few months. :doh: I'm not sure if LCDs are on the same 4 year upgrade cycle as laptops, or how my having a midcycle swap when my old laptop had issues will affect it. I'd be dual CRT except the 2nd dock port is DVI-D only.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Ooooooo - that strikes a nerve with ME alright. I am a column nazi. People. Can't we at least agree that code shouldn't be wider than 120 columns? (I prefer a width of 80 myself). And for GOD'S SAKE why won't some of you indent your code????? I don't care if it's 3 spaces or 4 or a tab or what, but PLEEEASE! I'm BEGGING YOUuuuuuuu......... Why? Why can't you just keep it on one screen and indent? Is the reason because it takes time to write it that way? (once) And it's just as easy for YOU to read it that way? (80 times) Whyyyyyyy??? I really wanna know...
It must suck to be you! :omg:
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leppie wrote:
C# is easy, delete the last curly brace in the file, and just create it again. Voila, code formatted
C++ is easy, with astyle integrated into your IDE, just type your code and it is formatted. ;P you don't even have to delete your last curly brace. ;P
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
C# does that for new code without an IDE plugin. Zapping and replacing a } forces a reformat of everything inside the block.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Marc Clifton wrote:
What's your thoughts on whether code should look good, in terms of spacing, formatting, structure, etc.?
It's a must. I like to be able to squint at code and see pretty patterns in the text, which is as near as dammit impossible if due care and attention has not been taken by the monkey bashing the keys (or if it's written in Perl :) ).
You too? :laugh: