Article View: comp.lang.misc
Article #5550Re: Indentation for parsing (was Re: Block Closure (was Re: FOR loops))
From: David Goodenough
Date: Fri, 06 May 1988 18:22
Date: Fri, 06 May 1988 18:22
46 lines
1954 bytes
1954 bytes
From article <4625@ihlpf.ATT.COM>, by nevin1@ihlpf.ATT.COM (00704a-Liber):
> In article <5992@utcsri.UUCP> norvell@utcsri.UUCP (Theodore Stevens Norvell) writes:
>>The discussion about using indentation to indicate program structure is
>>interesting to me as I have designed a language which does exactly this
>>and written a compiler for it. .....
>
> This kind of stuff is better enforced by language-sensitive editors and
> pretty-printers, not compilers. .....
And then there's always OCCAM
> ..... And without
> language-sensitive editors and/or pretty-printers, it is very hard always
> getting the indentation right.
This last comment almost deserves a flame. What is needed to produce
correctly indented source code with any editor (be it vi, VEDIT or whatever)
is *_DISCIPLINE_*. In 1980 at university, I decided on a coding style:
if (test)
{
statement;
statement;
for (xyz; abc; foo)
statement;
}
And I stick to it militantly - 8 years worth of it. It is now so ingrained
that I do it as a reflex. ALWAYS produces readable code, and I can do a
'egrep "[{}]" \!*'
to look for lines that contain {s and }s, and spot mismatced {}s in a twinkle.
This is one of my objections to the other style:
if (test) {
statement; .....
It is too easy to mismatch, as you have to hunt for the {
I've got my asbestos suit ready for the inevitable flames :-) :-) :-)
--
dg@lakart.UUCP - David Goodenough +---+
| +-+-+
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!decvax!ima!cfisun!lakart!dg From: dg@lakart.UUCP (David Goodenough) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Indentation for parsing (was Re: Block Closure (was Re: FOR loops)) Message-ID: <94@lakart.UUCP> Date: 6 May 88 18:22:33 GMT References: <4625@ihlpf.ATT.COM> Organization: Lake - The systems people Lines: 46