Re: Coding Style

[Albert D. Cahalan]

> Tabs are 8 characters so NO tabs should be used in ANY source file what 
...
> Rationale:  Tabs force your code out to the right edge of the display
> leaving no room for comments.  You don't need great big gaping spaces to
> delineate the start and end of a block, TWO spaces do this just fine.

Correct, because adjustable tab width is a myth. The comments don't
line up when you muck with tab width.

>   int function(int x)   
>   {
>     body of function    // correctly braced and commented :)
>   }

1. put your head in a PET scanner
2. think about Pascal while the doctors observe
3. get radiation treatment to kill neurons infected with Pascal

> Linus states that the placement of the first brace at the end of the 
> first line keeps your code less vertical and thus saves you some space
> for comments.  This commenting style just plane sucks, it fragments your
> source file creating all kinds of visual clutter making them impossible 
> to read.  New lines ARE A RENEWABLE resource, if they aren't then you need 
> to buy more ram for your 8086 (or is it a z80 ?).

I get 30 to 60 lines on my monitors, but I want over 200 lines.
Such a monitor would be at least $6000, assuming I could find one.
(fuzzy text doesn't count)

> One other thing.  Allot of people neglect to brace a statement if 
> it has a single line body.  This is VERY bad, always brace your
> statements....
> 
>  if (x = 1)
>    if (y = 2)
>      if (z = 3)
>        for (i = 1; i < 10; i++)
>          if ....
>            switch (foo)
>              .....
> 
> ...is really stupid.  DON'T DO IT!

Agreed, but braces are not the fix.

> I would however like to state that the C switch statement is evil and
> to be avoided at all costs.  If you really need to use one for what 
> ever reason then each case in that switch statement should be a

The gcc computed goto extension is better, because it doesn't suffer
the overhead of that stupid built-in default. We need __raw_switch
to overcome this. If I leave out the default and pass in bogus values
then I should get a crash. (this is about performance)

> I have never really liked the C language, it seems to me that it has a
> habit of making ANY idiot think he/she can be a coder.  C is an easy 
> language to learn but to be a good C coder takes years of hard study
> and a TRUE artistic flair for programming.  This means that 99% of all 
> C code is JUNK code.  

I'm still looking for a readable description of C99 aliasing rules
and proper usage of "restrict". It is no wonder that schools are
switching to Java.