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- Path: news.mindlink.net!news
- From: genew@mindlink.bc.ca (Gene Wirchenko)
- Newsgroups: rec.games.programmer,comp.programming,comp.lang.c++,alt.msdos.programmer
- Subject: Re: Young programmers read me.
- Date: Thu, 18 Apr 1996 05:57:47 GMT
- Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
- Message-ID: <4l4ls7$coh@fountain.mindlink.net>
- References: <4l0c8p$rvp@fountain.mindlink.net> <4l1n31$636@newsserver.trl.OZ.AU>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: line292.nwm.mindlink.net
- X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82
-
- davej@apertus.com wrote:
-
-
- >In article <4l0c8p$rvp@fountain.mindlink.net>, <genew@mindlink.bc.ca> writes:
- >> hennebry@plains.nodak.edu (Michael J. Hennebry) wrote:
- >> >In article <4kmfqn$e0f@airdmhor.gen.nz>,
- >> >Simon Hosie <gumboot@airdmhor.gen.nz> wrote:
- >> >> if(something_happened)
- >> >> do_something_else();
- >>
- >> >AAAaaarrrggg! This is an accident waiting to happen.
-
- >Agreed.
- >
- >> Why? If you don't know the language, why program in it?
-
- >That's not much of an answer!
-
- >> I always indent my code properly (meaning consistently) and if I
- >> saw that the then clause needed to be "blockized", I'd do it automatically.
-
- >You may "always indent your code properly" but what about when you are
- >working on a large project with 6 or 20 other engineers? Have you
- >ever worked on a project where you share development code with others?
- >What if the company you work for has standards that don't allow your
- >method?
-
- Yes, I have waded through others' code. The big problem is that
- it is someone else's and not yours i.e. things are not done as you
- expect. Extraneous brackets and such get me wondering if I might have
- missed something and thus waste time.
- If the company has different standards? Well, then I can't use
- my standard there, can I? If it's too much trouble, I'd leave. Let
- me reverse the question. Suppose the company insists that you do
- things my way. What do you do?
-
- >IMO, if you're relying on indentation to indicate program flow, you're
- >just asking for trouble, and lots of it.
-
- Why? Since I rarely use gotos, the indentation does a fine job
- of showing the flow. Did you mean something else?
-
- >> >Lotsa luck.
- >> I don't need luck. I have a method.
-
- >What about when you leave the company? Then every bit of code you
- >had ever written or were maintaining would be riddled with accidents
- >waiting to happen. Think ahead, it's not always what we want to do
- >as programmers, but code MUST be written in a fashion that it will be
- >easily maintainable by junior level programmers. I don't really like
- >that either, being forced to "code down" but it's a fact that code
- >will have bugs and must be maintained. Often it's not the sr engineers
- >doing that sort of work.
-
- I follow my standard very strictly. It is not a complicated one
- and it is usable on multiple languages.
- Anything can be screwed up. (Fools are so ingenious.) I refuse
- to take responsibility for someone else mucking up my code later. I
- do not write obfuscated code and if the maintainer can not read clear
- code, he shouldn't be modifying it. I particularly refuse to take
- responsibility for a future supporter so bad that he can't balance
- braces. That's the least of his worries in a real program.
-
- >> >or this:
- >> > if(something_happened)
- >> > { do_something_else(); }
- >>
- >> Extraneous braces cause pause.
- > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- >???
-
- It takes time, a bit, but still time, to realize that the braces
- are extraneous. I would hate to have to maintain garbage like the
- above and would change it as soon as I could to save myself time and
- trouble.
-
- >Dave Johnson
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Gene Wirchenko
-
- C Pronunciation Guide:
- y=x++; "wye equals ex plus plus semicolon"
- x=x++; "ex equals ex doublecross semicolon"
-
-