[Python-Dev] Update PEP 7 to require curly braces in C

[Maciej Szulik]

To add my additional 0.02$ to the discussion. Quite a while ago my
coworkers and I agreed
to use strict rules regarding code formatting. That idea turned into a
formatter we've had
committed in the project itself. This forced everyone on the team to use it
and thus producing
exactly "the same looking" code. I found it very nice, although we've
debated over how
those rules should be applied for good couple months, that was at one of
the previous companies
I've worked for. Currently by day I'm working with Go, which go-fmt is by
default required for all our
projects and I found it extremely handy see [1], [2], [3].

Maciej


[1] https://github.com/openshift/origin/
[2] https://github.com/openshift/source-to-image/
[3] https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes

On Tue, Jan 19, 2016 at 9:48 AM, M.-A. Lemburg <mal at egenix.com> wrote:

> On 19.01.2016 00:20, Brett Cannon wrote:
> > On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 at 11:10 Brett Cannon <brett at python.org> wrote:
> >
> >> While doing a review of http://bugs.python.org/review/26129/ I asked to
> >> have curly braces put around all `if` statement bodies. Serhiy pointed
> out
> >> that PEP 7 says curly braces are optional:
> >> https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0007/#id5. I would like to change
> >> that.
> >>
> >> My argument is to require them to prevent bugs like the one Apple made
> >> with OpenSSL about two years ago:
> >> https://www.imperialviolet.org/2014/02/22/applebug.html. Skipping the
> >> curly braces is purely an aesthetic thing while leaving them out can
> lead
> >> to actual bugs.
> >>
> >> Anyone object if I update PEP 7 to remove the optionality of curly
> braces
> >> in PEP 7?
> >>
> >
> > Currently this thread stands at:
>
> Make that:
>
> > +1
> >   Brett
> >   Ethan
> >   Robert
> >   Georg
> >   Nick
> >   Maciej Szulik
> > +0
> >   Guido
> > -0
> >   Serhiy
> > -1
>     MAL
> >   Victor (maybe; didn't specifically vote)
> >   Larry
> >   Stefan
>
> There are plenty other cases where typos can ruin the flow
> of your code in C; the discussed case is not a very common one.
>
> I find the whole discussion a bit strange: In Python we're
> advocating not having to use curly braces, because whitespace
> already provides the needed semantics for us, yet you are
> now advocating that without adding extra curly braces
> we'd be in danger of writing wrong code.
>
> The Apple bug can happen in Python just as well:
>
> if a:
>     run_if_true()
> else:
>     run_if_false()
>
> can turn into (say by hitting a wrong key in the editor):
>
> if a:
>     run_if_true()
>     run_if_false()
>
> (run_if_false is now run when a is true, and nothing is
> done in case a is false)
>
> So what's the correct way to address this ?
>
> It's having a test for both branches (a is true, a is false),
> not starting to write e.g.
>
> if a:
>     run_if_true()
> if not a:
>     run_if false()
>
> to feel more "secure".
>
> Also note that the extra braces won't necessarily help you.
> If you remove "else" from:
>
> if (a) {
>     run_if_true();
> }
> else {
>     run_if_false();
> }
>
> you get exactly the same Apply bug as before, only with more
> curly braces.
>
> This all sounds a bit like security theater to me ;-)
>
> I'd say: people who feel better using the extra braces can use
> them, while others who don't need them can go ahead as always
> ... and both groups should write more tests :-)
>
> BTW: There are other things in PEP 7 which should probably be updated
> instead, e.g. it still says we should use C89, but we're having more
> and more C99 code (mostly new library functions) in CPython.
>
> --
> Marc-Andre Lemburg
> eGenix.com
>
> Professional Python Services directly from the Experts (#1, Jan 19 2016)
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