Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-ncis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!agate!bionet!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uxc!iuvax!rutgers!att!ihlpb!tainter
From: tainter@ihlpb.ATT.COM (Tainter)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: A brace vs. indentation hypothesis (was Re: Braces are not Compiler-Fluff.)
Message-ID: <9379@ihlpb.ATT.COM>
Date: 10 Jan 89 23:20:27 GMT
References: <eWl9H#2cdgbS=eric@snark.UUCP> <272@twwells.uucp> <849@unh.UUCP> <292@twwells.uucp> <196@mstan.Morgan.COM> <305@twwells.uucp>
Reply-To: tainter@ihlpb.UUCP (55521-Tainter,J.A.)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 34

In article <305@twwells.uucp> bill@twwells.UUCP (T. William Wells) writes:
>or, possibly:
>
>       if (  p != 0
>          && p->barp != 0
>          && p->barp->type == BAR_BAZ_TYPE) {
>               debazify(p->barp);
>               saltpork(p);
>       }

or better still (in my not-so-humble opinion):

        if (j != 0) {
            somefunction();     /* example WITHOUT folded expression */
        }

        if (p != 0
                && p->barp != 0
                    && p->barp->type == BAR_BAZ_TYPE) {
            debazify(p->barp);  /* example WITH folded expression */
            saltpork(p);
        }

This has the advantage that your blocks stay uniformly indented.  All indents
are in the optimal 4-6 character range (I can point you to a report on
an experiment done on this) and all indents are the same.  With a reasonable
editor indents are single key operations (under vi ^T,^D and autoindent do
almost all your indenting) which eliminates multiple keystrokes for these
with consequent better precision.  The braces are moderately unobtrusive
without being hard to maintain.

>Bill { uunet!proxftl | novavax } !twwells!bill

--johnathan.a.tainter