Chapter 2. Code Layout


Most people's [...] programs should be indented six feet downward and covered with dirt.
Blair P. Houghton

Formatting. Indentation. Style. Code layout. Whatever you choose to call it, it's one of the most contentious aspects of programming discipline. More and bloodier wars have been fought over code layout than over just about any other aspect of coding.

So what is the best practice here? Should you use classic Kernighan & Ritchie (K&R) style? Or go with BSD code formatting? Or adopt the layout scheme specified by the GNU project? Or conform to the Slashcode coding guidelines?

Of course not! Everyone knows that [insert your personal coding style here] is the One True Layout Style, the only sane choice, as ordained by [insert your favorite Programming Deity here] since Time Immemorial! Any other choice is manifestly absurd, willfully heretical, and self-evidently a Work of Darkness!!!

And that's precisely the problem. When deciding on a layout style, it's hard to decide where rational choices end and rationalized habits begin.

Adopting a coherently designed approach to code layout, and then applying that approach consistently across all your coding, is fundamental to best practice programming. Good layout can improve the readability of a program, help detect errors within it, and make the structure of your code much easier to comprehend. Layout matters.

But most coding stylesincluding the four mentioned earlierconfer those benefits almost equally well. So while it's true that having a consistent code layout scheme matters very much indeed, the particular code layout scheme you ultimately decide upon... does not matter at all!

All that matters is that you adopt a single, coherent style; one that works for your entire programming team. And, having agreed upon that style, that you then apply it consistently across all your development.

The layout guidelines suggested in this chapter have been carefully and consciously selected from many alternatives, in a deliberate attempt to construct a coding style that is self-consistent and concise, that improves the readability of the resulting code, that makes it easy to detect coding mistakes, and that works well for a wide range of programmers in a wide range of development environments.

Undoubtedly, there will be some layout guideline here that you disagree with. Probably violently. When you find it, come back and reread the five words at the top of this page. Then decide whether your reasons for your disagreement outweigh the reasons given for the guideline. If they do, then not following that particular guideline won't matter at all.



Perl Best Practices
Perl Best Practices
ISBN: 0596001738
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 350
Authors: Damian Conway

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