Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Tim Rentsch Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: Coding style for small if statements Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2020 07:10:34 -0800 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 16 Message-ID: <867e0mftzp.fsf@linuxsc.com> References: <20200131234613.59047e037939ceb549b8e6d6@gmail.com> <65de5d07-838a-4a5f-bd70-b8a263fc61d6@googlegroups.com> <87imkkobdm.fsf@bsb.me.uk> <726b2209-ca7e-40fe-b429-fbc062f5b6bd@googlegroups.com> <87mu9v1dtv.fsf@nosuchdomain.example.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: reader02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="5afe6ca82d77f883ab9def33834e0994"; logging-data="6947"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+6LMiEt/EbIcQ636cDG3XY3fTx7BcrzDo=" User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:vrdqY8DtWFNeoEoOcAkTkgQVAEA= sha1:HngYFKLYWlHIcDTnXr/v6to7nzo= Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.c:150053 Les Cargill writes: > There's something to be said for having a code formatter/pretty > printer in the code checkin process. IME that's not a good idea. Any reasonably large program invariably contains some deliberate "violations" of the layout conventions being followed, and automated formatters mess those up. Such cases aren't just contrariness on the part of whoever is doing the programming: just as in writing English prose, sometimes it is important to break a style rule, to get a better result; taking a slavishly mechanical attitude has problems if followed rigidly and without exception. Code formatters are great for getting an unruly code base "shipshape and Bristol fashion" before editing starts. Not so much later during normal development.