A modest indentation proposal

Steve Lamb grey at despair.dmiyu.org
Thu Nov 29 18:27:36 EST 2001


On Thu, 29 Nov 2001 14:09:28 -0800, Erann Gat <gat at jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
> It also IMO makes the language unsuitable for mission-critical applications.
> It's just too easy to screw up indentation (particularly when cutting and
> pasting large blocks of code) without realizing it.

    Hogwash, plain and simple.  Either you know it because it is visually
different or you know it when you test the application and it fails
spectacularly.  You /do/ test your mission-critical applications, don't you?

    Furthermore this makes it ideal for mission-critical applications because
it enforces a rather uniform style of coding making it easier for different
people to read, understand and modify each other's code.  
 
> 1) Editor support for this convention so that a semicolon at the end of a
> line causes the editor to unindent, and

    Given the choice of having disparate programming styles or having to hit
backspace a few times at the end of a block, I'll take backspace.  I'll spend
less time smacking that key around than I will puzzling over someone else's,
or even my own, code.

-- 
         Steve C. Lamb         | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
         ICQ: 5107343          | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
    To email: Don't despair!   |  -- Lenny Nero, Strange Days
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