On Sun, 2002-02-17 at 11:05, Christian Blichmann wrote:
> Hi there!
[snip]
> if (condition) one_statement();
>
> if (condition)
> one_statement();
> else
> other_statement();
>
> if (condition)
> one_statement();
> elseif (condition) // or use: else if
> other_statement();
> else
> anything();
I don't see the benefit of leaving the braces out when there is only
one statement, and there is potential harm: it's fairly easy to get
hard-to-track errors when you add more statements to the conditional
but forget to add braces (which might as well have been there to
start with):
if (contition)
$foo = 'bar';
echo $foo
else
baz();
I've seen it happen. :) Besides, if code block are always braced, it's
one less inconsistency in the code.
[snip]
One other thing I'd mention is when people go to great lengths to format
columns in their code:
$foo = 'Foo';
$bar = 'Bar';
$foobar = 'FooBar';
This is a small example, but despite the fact that it's sort of
aesthetically pleasing, what happens when you have a long list of
those and then come back and need to add one which is one character
longer than the rest? You have to update *every* line. Not a code
problem per se, but a tedious mess.
An excellent book on coding practices is 'Code Complete', by Steve C
McConnell.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556154844/qid=1013978113/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_67_1/102-2030399-6728144
There is also the Indian Hill style guide--for C, but highly
transferrable to PHP:
http://dogbert.comsc.ucok.edu/~mccann/cstyle.html
For a whole list of 'em, check out:
http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/cml/cstyle/
Hope this helps,
Torben
--
Torben Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.thebuttlesschaps.com
http://www.hybrid17.com
http://www.inflatableeye.com
+1.604.709.0506
--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
