Thomas,
>Lots of good points being made. May I add a little one? Familiarity. In
>Britain, telephone numbers are grouped in 3's, although with various
>over-riding factors; my number is
>0113 - 226 - 6687
>where the Leeds area code is given as four digits, then what's left is split
>into 3 followed by a four digit group at the end.
>
>In France, numbers are usually given in 2's:
>01 13 22 66 68 7
>(at least I think that'd be they do it). This has some advantages for
>dictation, but it's really hard to handle the conversion of a number you
>already know in one form. Even with new numbers, it's hard to handle the
>unfamiliar system.
There is experimental evidence that grouping numbers into
sequences of 3 digits makes them more memorable
Size of rehearsal group and short term memory, J. Exp. Psychology
vol 68, pp 413, by W A Wickelgren
>So I think that any experimental comparisons will need to be very careful
>about checking out the subjects' prior experience.
>
>That said, why doesn't one of you get a large sheet of paper and about 4
>experienced coders and just try it out?? I'd be interested to know the
>result (and I'll put a private bet on it with anyone interested!)
The problem is that spacing before the ( is not the only issue:
x=1;
a[i]=some+thing-original*value;
if(x + y)
ik (y > 4);
x+=thing*some;
a[thing] >>= value;
In many languages the statements after an if are indented. This
indentation provides extra visual clues.
There are a few languages, Fortran & Cobol, where a lot of code
is still not indented. Perhaps readers of such code cannot scan it
as quickly as say C or Java code?
I wonder how many people were lead up the garden path by my
previous example? Did you look at the spacing and indentation and
not the identifier spellings?
The other issue with spacing, is consistency. People do like to
be able to follow simple rules. What spacing should appear, if any,
before square brackets in an array reference? What about the
around parenthesis in an expression?
My own advice at the practical level is not to discuss this issue
with developers. It creates an enormous amount of discussion
for very small (I would, unsubstantiatedly, claim) benefit. Let them
carry on doing that they are currently doing.
derek
--
Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667
Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk
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