Braces.

[GParkings]

Similar tot he below issue, an example of which was posted on CP about a month ago

if(some very long condition that pushes the right hand side of the statement off the screen) return;
{

//stuffs

}

It is likely the extra return was a temporary debugging thing that got left as a dingleberry ... but a subtle bug none-the-less. I personally always use braces and think it a shame that the above example compiles at all

Pedis ex oris Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur

[__yash__]

You got crooked teeth or something? :-D

[Not Active]

There is no protection from stupid.

---

Failure is not an option; it's the default selection.

[SinghUlarity]

Wouldn't that then make a case for starting braces next to the very first statement?

if (xxx){

Of course some would argue that makes the start and end brace difficult to spot :-D

I are n00b.

[Gregory Gadow]

Yeah, I've done that. I've learned -- the hard way, I will admit -- to ALWAYS use braces in C-derived code (C, C++, C# and Javascript.) They do not change the size or efficiency of compiled code and can be very helpful in tracking down bugs. I even go so far as to put all of my braces on their own line, with their own level of indentation: I can then print out the code, pull out a pencil and a ruler, and make sure everything lines up properly. For client-side script, I keep a working copy that's formatted and then compress it when it goes onto the server.

[DeathByChocolate]

PHS241 wrote:

I love them

I prefer belts! ;P (Well someone had to say it! ;) )

"State acheived after eating too many chocolate-covered coconut bars - bountiful" Chris C-B

[Marc Clifton]

PHS241 wrote:

I love them but, alas, the previous developer did not. There was a small, almost inconsequential "if" statement, not unlike:

I was convinced when my coworker recounted horror stories of adding a line in Fortran that was the equivalent of something like this:

if (fooIsTrue)
DoSomething();
DoSomethingMore();

Conversely, I once spend half a day debugging the equivalent of:

int i;
for (i=0; i<100; i++);
{
printf(i);
}

and wondering why the result was 100 (or more precisely, why the loop only executed once!) Marc

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[Roy from Detroit]

I used to hate brackets. Every character you can eliminate from code is one less that can cause a bug. Then, like so many others, I wasted time debugging bugs like this: if(whatever) dosomething() dosomethingElse() Now where I work, we require brackets on everything, no matter what. It turns what could have been a 1-line IF into 4 lines, but if it avoids even one future bug, it is well worth it! BTW, the semicolon after the if, in VS2010 C# at least: if(whatever) ; { ... } Gives me a "Possible mistaken empty statement" warning when I build. Dang that thing is smart. Now if it would just fix it for me and not bother me with the warning at all...

[bVagadishnu]

:) Don't need braces at all.

If [your condition here]
Your code here
End If

Schenectady? What am I doing in Schenectady?

[BobJanova]

The braces aren't the problem here, the lack of a test framework is.

[Berthely]

I like braces but some of my co-workers don't so I learn to live with that... X|