Derek M Jones wrote:
> 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 benefit. Let them carry on doing that they are currently doing.
I tend to agree with Derek here; most mature C developers I know can
read the C common indentation and spacing styles without too much
complaint or apparent difficulty. And, for those styles you find too
tasteless to cope with(*), there's always the 'indent'(+) utility, which
will reformat C code to your preferred style. I know projects that
run indent on all code being checked into a code repository so that
it's in a house style, while letting individual programmers have their
own indent profiles so that code they check out is formatted for the way
they like to work.
That this utility exists shows both that there is disagreement between
developers about how to do formatting of C source, and that there is a
technical solution of adequate quality that lets people get on with the
job of concentrating on what lies amidst the white space, rather than
indulging in the sport of bickering about the shape of the space itself.
Notes:
(*) Here is an example of a strangely-formatted C program; I assume
it's because it's written by a LISP programmer:
http://src.openresources.com/debian/src/math/HTML/S/siag_2.65.orig%20siag%20siod%20siod.c.html
(+) Here are URLs for the indent program and its online manual, which
includes examples of just how many points of potential disagreement
there are:
Program: http://www.gnu.org/directory/indent.html
Manual: http://www.xs4all.nl/~carlo17/indent/indent.html
--
Frank Wales [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
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