"Dmitry Jemerov" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Could someone please explain, what's the point in ordering functions
> in alphabetical order? I always try to order them in _logical_ order,
> so that by reading a file from top to bottom, one could get a fairly
> good understanding of how the code works. Alphabetic ordering would
> place together functions that do not have any logical relationship,
> but just happen to start from the same letter.
I'll tell you why I order my methods alphabetically: it makes finding methods
easier.
I got so used to the function popup menu on CodeWarrior for the Mac that when
I started doing Java development and used editors that didn't have that
feature, I had to resort to putting my methods in alphabetical order to find
them easily.
IMHO, no editor has come close to CodeWarrior's function popup menu, which was
so simple and easy and perfect. It seems like such a simple thing, but so far,
IDEA has been the only editor to even come close, and it's still got a ways to
go.
Here's how it worked: there was a little tiny square in the bottom left corner
of each window (one window per file). Its icon was "{}". You clicked on it,
and it showed you all of the classes and functions in the file. If you held
down the command key while clicking, it sorted them in alphabetical order. You
could even define #pragma preprocessor directives to add separator lines and
comments. So this:
#pragma --- public stuff
int aMethod() { blah(); }
int myMethod() { blah(); }
#pragma --- private stuff
private int anotherMethod() { blah(); }
would show up like this in the popup menu:
--- public stuff
MyClass.aMethod()
MyClass.myMethod()
--- private stuff
MyClass.anotherMethod()
It was so simple and easy. My head almost exploded when I had to switch from
CodeWarrior to VisualCafe which had a function menu that was horribly designed
and never seemed to work right.
CodeWarrior seems like it was written (in the past, at least) by people who
wanted to write a great IDE. VisualCafe and others seem like they are written
by people who just want a paycheck. Luckilly, IDEA seems like it is written by
people who want to write a great IDE.
Anyway, I still alphabetize my methods sometimes because old habits die hard.
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