A big if
-
Let's assume it's C++. I consider sth. like the code above generally bad coding style. There is far to much nesting here. Supposed that most of the programmers (at least the ones I know, including myself) make an indentation of four spaces (not only two as in the 'sample'), you would quickly run out of monitor space... I would suggest a kind of 'waterfall style' coding here:
if ((nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetHost(HOST)) != 0)
{
Log(...);
return;
}if ((nErrorCode = ...
{
Log(...);
return;
}...
This is also not perfect since it introduces many returns, but it improves the readability of the code and the return conditions are trivial and repetitive.
PIEBALDconsult wrote:
If it's C#, the methods should probably throw Exceptions.
Agreed. In a perfect world, C# - Methods would always throw exceptions and never signal an error by means of a return value. (As long as this is affordable in terms of performance). Regards Thomas
modified on Monday, November 3, 2008 4:55 AM
In fact, I think your approach is more problematic. What if resources need to be released before returning from the function? The if branch will grow bigger and bigger as you are nearing the end of the function, and most of it will be a copy-paste code.
-
Recently, I stumbled across this little gem. I don't have the exact code handy, but the gist of it is:
nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetHost(HOST);
if (nErrorCode == 0)
{
nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetUser(USERNAME);if (nErrorCode == 0)
{
nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetPassword(PASSWORD);if (nErrorCode == 0) { nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetPath(PATH); if (nErrorCode == 0) { nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetFilename(FILENAME); if (nErrorCode == 0) { // Retrieve files, adding a few _more_ levels of `if` } else { Log("Error setting filename"); } } else { Log("Error setting path"); } } else { Log("Error setting password"); }}
else
{
Log("Error setting username");
}
}
else
{
Log("Error setting host");
}If the exceptions are forbidden for whatever reason, there is nothing wrong with it.
-
In fact, I think your approach is more problematic. What if resources need to be released before returning from the function? The if branch will grow bigger and bigger as you are nearing the end of the function, and most of it will be a copy-paste code.
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
What if resources need to be released before returning from the function? The if branch will grow bigger and bigger as you are nearing the end of the function
True, but if there are some actions to be taken that are not part of the functional code (e.g. releasing resources), I'd consider to take a
try/finallyapproach or implementing sort ofDispose pattern- depending on the problem to solve and whether it is C/C++ or C#. I would definitely not end up with a bunch ofifs in this case, but the 'sample code' does not give any hint in that direction - and I think this is not the point here... :rolleyes: Regards Thomas -
If the exceptions are forbidden for whatever reason, there is nothing wrong with it.
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
there is nothing wrong with it
As always with coding style, it's to some extent a matter of taste and in parts the result of former - mostly painful - experiences. And sometimes it may simply depend on the level of agreement one can achieve within a project team :sigh:. Here's what I think about it: http://www.codeproject.com/Feature/CodingHorrors.aspx?fid=392254&select=2790521&fr=1#xx2790521xx[^] Regards Thomas
-
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
What if resources need to be released before returning from the function? The if branch will grow bigger and bigger as you are nearing the end of the function
True, but if there are some actions to be taken that are not part of the functional code (e.g. releasing resources), I'd consider to take a
try/finallyapproach or implementing sort ofDispose pattern- depending on the problem to solve and whether it is C/C++ or C#. I would definitely not end up with a bunch ofifs in this case, but the 'sample code' does not give any hint in that direction - and I think this is not the point here... :rolleyes: Regards ThomasThomas Weller wrote:
True, but if there are some actions to be taken that are not part of the functional code (e.g. releasing resources), I'd consider to take a try/finally approach or implementing sort of Dispose pattern - depending on the problem to solve and whether it is C/C++ or C#.
Exceptions coupled with automatic release of resources are the best approach. But if this approach is not available, the nested
ifs still work well and are reasonably readable: at least the error paths are somewhat separated from the "normal" flow Typical well written COM code often looks like:ISomeInterface* pInter(NULL);
HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
if (SUCCEEDED(SomeFactory->CreateSomeObject(&pInter)))
{
if (SUCCEEDED(pInter->Operation1()))
{
if (SUCCEEDED(pInter->Operation2()))
{
DoSomething(pInter);
hr = S_OK;
}
else
hr = E_WHATEVER2;
else
hr = E_WHATEVER1;
}
else
pInter->Release();
}return hr;
-
Thomas Weller wrote:
True, but if there are some actions to be taken that are not part of the functional code (e.g. releasing resources), I'd consider to take a try/finally approach or implementing sort of Dispose pattern - depending on the problem to solve and whether it is C/C++ or C#.
Exceptions coupled with automatic release of resources are the best approach. But if this approach is not available, the nested
ifs still work well and are reasonably readable: at least the error paths are somewhat separated from the "normal" flow Typical well written COM code often looks like:ISomeInterface* pInter(NULL);
HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
if (SUCCEEDED(SomeFactory->CreateSomeObject(&pInter)))
{
if (SUCCEEDED(pInter->Operation1()))
{
if (SUCCEEDED(pInter->Operation2()))
{
DoSomething(pInter);
hr = S_OK;
}
else
hr = E_WHATEVER2;
else
hr = E_WHATEVER1;
}
else
pInter->Release();
}return hr;
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
Exceptions coupled with automatic release of resources are the best approach.
This is a quite good definition of what
Dispose patternis in C#... :) In my opinion, there are two problems with code consisting of many nestedifpaths: - It is hard to follow if it gets lengthy. Error probability increases dramatically with every level of nesting - especially when it comes to maintenance. - This sort of coding simply does not well with monitor space. Lines are indented for every nesting level - and soon you have to scroll horizontally only for reading source code! That's why the manyifs are a coding horror in my opinion: Readability and maintainability issues. Regards Thomas -
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
Exceptions coupled with automatic release of resources are the best approach.
This is a quite good definition of what
Dispose patternis in C#... :) In my opinion, there are two problems with code consisting of many nestedifpaths: - It is hard to follow if it gets lengthy. Error probability increases dramatically with every level of nesting - especially when it comes to maintenance. - This sort of coding simply does not well with monitor space. Lines are indented for every nesting level - and soon you have to scroll horizontally only for reading source code! That's why the manyifs are a coding horror in my opinion: Readability and maintainability issues. Regards ThomasThomas Weller wrote:
This is a quite good definition of what Dispose pattern is in C#...
It even better describes the RAII idiom in C++ :)
Thomas Weller wrote:
It is hard to follow if it gets lengthy
It does, but at least it is cleanly separated: the "normal path" is in the
ifpart, and the error handling in theelsepart. With the "pipe" model, both code paths interrupt each other and thats really messy and error prone.Thomas Weller wrote:
Error probability increases dramatically with every level of nesting - especially when it comes to maintenance.
How come? There is no copy-paste code and if something needs to be changed, it needs to be changed in one place. With the "pipe" model, if you add a new resource allocation, you need to make sure that it is released in each return path.
Thomas Weller wrote:
This sort of coding simply does not well with monitor space. Lines are indented for every nesting level - and soon you have to scroll horizontally only for reading source code!
No argument here, except that most editors have this secret little feature called "line wrapping" :)
Thomas Weller wrote:
Readability and maintainability issues.
Exactly the same arguments I have for the opposite argument - don't you love programming discussions? :laugh:
-
Thomas Weller wrote:
This is a quite good definition of what Dispose pattern is in C#...
It even better describes the RAII idiom in C++ :)
Thomas Weller wrote:
It is hard to follow if it gets lengthy
It does, but at least it is cleanly separated: the "normal path" is in the
ifpart, and the error handling in theelsepart. With the "pipe" model, both code paths interrupt each other and thats really messy and error prone.Thomas Weller wrote:
Error probability increases dramatically with every level of nesting - especially when it comes to maintenance.
How come? There is no copy-paste code and if something needs to be changed, it needs to be changed in one place. With the "pipe" model, if you add a new resource allocation, you need to make sure that it is released in each return path.
Thomas Weller wrote:
This sort of coding simply does not well with monitor space. Lines are indented for every nesting level - and soon you have to scroll horizontally only for reading source code!
No argument here, except that most editors have this secret little feature called "line wrapping" :)
Thomas Weller wrote:
Readability and maintainability issues.
Exactly the same arguments I have for the opposite argument - don't you love programming discussions? :laugh:
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
don't you love programming discussions?
:laugh: Sure, always ... But tell me two things: 1. What the heck is the RAII idiom in C++ (I am mainly working with C# :cool:)? 2. How can line wrapping help with horizontal scrolling? :doh: Regards Thomas
-
Thomas Weller wrote:
This is a quite good definition of what Dispose pattern is in C#...
It even better describes the RAII idiom in C++ :)
Thomas Weller wrote:
It is hard to follow if it gets lengthy
It does, but at least it is cleanly separated: the "normal path" is in the
ifpart, and the error handling in theelsepart. With the "pipe" model, both code paths interrupt each other and thats really messy and error prone.Thomas Weller wrote:
Error probability increases dramatically with every level of nesting - especially when it comes to maintenance.
How come? There is no copy-paste code and if something needs to be changed, it needs to be changed in one place. With the "pipe" model, if you add a new resource allocation, you need to make sure that it is released in each return path.
Thomas Weller wrote:
This sort of coding simply does not well with monitor space. Lines are indented for every nesting level - and soon you have to scroll horizontally only for reading source code!
No argument here, except that most editors have this secret little feature called "line wrapping" :)
Thomas Weller wrote:
Readability and maintainability issues.
Exactly the same arguments I have for the opposite argument - don't you love programming discussions? :laugh:
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
I Fail
to see
why
this
is any
less a
horror
becaus
e it
was
line
wrappe
d
automa
ticall
y.
}
else
{} } else { } } else { }}
else
{}
}
else
{}
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
-
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
I Fail
to see
why
this
is any
less a
horror
becaus
e it
was
line
wrappe
d
automa
ticall
y.
}
else
{} } else { } } else { }}
else
{}
}
else
{}
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
Exactly my point, unless I did not have the idea of putting it that way. :-D Regards Thomas
-
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
don't you love programming discussions?
:laugh: Sure, always ... But tell me two things: 1. What the heck is the RAII idiom in C++ (I am mainly working with C# :cool:)? 2. How can line wrapping help with horizontal scrolling? :doh: Regards Thomas
Thomas Weller wrote:
What the heck is the RAII idiom in C++
Resource Acquisition is Initialization[^] (a horrible name, but a very useful idiom)
Thomas Weller wrote:
How can line wrapping help with horizontal scrolling?
:confused: So what does it help with then? Try turning on line wrapping in Notepad and start typing - no matter what you do, there will be no horizontal scroll bars
-
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
if ()
{
I Fail
to see
why
this
is any
less a
horror
becaus
e it
was
line
wrappe
d
automa
ticall
y.
}
else
{} } else { } } else { }}
else
{}
}
else
{}
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
:) And the alternative:
Acquire1();
if (!Works1())
{
Release1();
return;
}Acquire2();
if (!Works2())
{
Release1();
Release2();
return;
}Acquire3();
if (!Works3())
{
Release1();
Release2();
Release3();
return;
}...
AcquireN();
if (!WorksN())
{
Release1();
Release2();
Release3();
...
ReleaseN();
return;
}Forget to copy one of the
Releasefunctions and you have a nice resource leak :) -
:) And the alternative:
Acquire1();
if (!Works1())
{
Release1();
return;
}Acquire2();
if (!Works2())
{
Release1();
Release2();
return;
}Acquire3();
if (!Works3())
{
Release1();
Release2();
Release3();
return;
}...
AcquireN();
if (!WorksN())
{
Release1();
Release2();
Release3();
...
ReleaseN();
return;
}Forget to copy one of the
Releasefunctions and you have a nice resource leak :)In C# you can make 1-N classes, put the release code in the destructors and have it cleaned up automatically. Alternately you could have a finally block with a series of
if (Thing1.Aquired) Thing1.Release()statements.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
-
Thomas Weller wrote:
What the heck is the RAII idiom in C++
Resource Acquisition is Initialization[^] (a horrible name, but a very useful idiom)
Thomas Weller wrote:
How can line wrapping help with horizontal scrolling?
:confused: So what does it help with then? Try turning on line wrapping in Notepad and start typing - no matter what you do, there will be no horizontal scroll bars
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
So what does it help with then?
Sorry, I was confusing line wrapping with the expand/collapse region feature. If you said word wrapping instead it would have been clear to me what you mean. I think this is because I am a German and not used to the exact idioms you are using in the U.S. This is a good example for a misunderstanding that would have been resolved within seconds in a face-to-face situation... :^) Regards Thomas
-
In C# you can make 1-N classes, put the release code in the destructors and have it cleaned up automatically. Alternately you could have a finally block with a series of
if (Thing1.Aquired) Thing1.Release()statements.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
As I said, ideally you would use exceptions and RAII (in C# that would be
using) and then the code would simply look like:{
Resource1 r1;
r1.DoSomething1();Resource2 r2;
r2.DoSomething2();...
} // all resources are cleaned up here - exceptions or notMy point is that if we need to stick to the C-style error handling it is much safer to write structured code with one entry and one exit, and no copy-paste blocks. BTW, the number of
ifs is the same in both styles - the difference is how you structure them. -
Recently, I stumbled across this little gem. I don't have the exact code handy, but the gist of it is:
nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetHost(HOST);
if (nErrorCode == 0)
{
nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetUser(USERNAME);if (nErrorCode == 0)
{
nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetPassword(PASSWORD);if (nErrorCode == 0) { nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetPath(PATH); if (nErrorCode == 0) { nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetFilename(FILENAME); if (nErrorCode == 0) { // Retrieve files, adding a few _more_ levels of `if` } else { Log("Error setting filename"); } } else { Log("Error setting path"); } } else { Log("Error setting password"); }}
else
{
Log("Error setting username");
}
}
else
{
Log("Error setting host");
} -
Thats a messy "spaghetti code". It looks very strange or like C#. X| I would write more compact functions like LogOnHost(host,user,password) and SetFilePath(path,file)
Greetings from Germany
KarstenK wrote:
It looks very strange or like C#.
What's your matter with C#? It allows for (and encourages) the cleanest and well structured code ever. :confused: Regards Thomas
-
KarstenK wrote:
It looks very strange or like C#.
What's your matter with C#? It allows for (and encourages) the cleanest and well structured code ever. :confused: Regards Thomas
-
But it allows -as seens- also the opposite. Strange is in the above code alway one Set-Function for User and Password. I hope the Ftp-objects isnt a C# class. X|
Greetings from Germany
KarstenK wrote:
But it allows -as seens- also the opposite.
Sure, it allows for bad coding style as well - as every other programming language does even more. Do you really blame C# for being a language that does not impose on its user what to say with it?? Do you have a car that forces you to adhere to traffic rules? Does your money tell you what to buy with it? ... :wtf: Regards Thomas
-
Let's assume it's C++. I consider sth. like the code above generally bad coding style. There is far to much nesting here. Supposed that most of the programmers (at least the ones I know, including myself) make an indentation of four spaces (not only two as in the 'sample'), you would quickly run out of monitor space... I would suggest a kind of 'waterfall style' coding here:
if ((nErrorCode = cFtpConn.SetHost(HOST)) != 0)
{
Log(...);
return;
}if ((nErrorCode = ...
{
Log(...);
return;
}...
This is also not perfect since it introduces many returns, but it improves the readability of the code and the return conditions are trivial and repetitive.
PIEBALDconsult wrote:
If it's C#, the methods should probably throw Exceptions.
Agreed. In a perfect world, C# - Methods would always throw exceptions and never signal an error by means of a return value. (As long as this is affordable in terms of performance). Regards Thomas
modified on Monday, November 3, 2008 4:55 AM
This is also not perfect since it introduces many returns, but it improves the readability of the code and the return conditions are trivial and repetitive.
How about:
if ((err = action1()) != 0)
log_error1();
else if ((err = action2()) != 0)
log_error2();
else if ((err = action3()) != 0)
log_error3();or
do
{
if ((err = action1()) != 0)
{log_error1(); break;}
if ((err = action2()) != 0)
{log_error2(); break;}
prepare_for_action3();
if ((err = action3()) != 0)
{log_error3(); break;}
...
} while(0); /* Loop used to allow break */The former style is nicer if each action is a single function. If stuff is required between the actions, the second approach may be helpful.