Thread: indentation o indentation!

There is style which has symmetry and consistency, and then there's simply bad indentation.

I am the one that moaned over your indentation, and if you go back and look at your code, you can see that parenthesis are indented by a different amount in different places.

On top of that, there's stuff like

Code:

if(condition)
{ var1 = something; var2 = somethingelse; var3 = foobar; }

Which can be considered style, but I really don't understand why you would do that, as it's simply horrible to read. Even if you leave the variable assignments on the same line, the code below is just that much easier to read.

Code:

if(condition)
{
     // ... code here ..
}

But that's just my opinion, others might disagree. And yes, you are right. Coding style is the subject of much debate. Not only style of indentation, like:

Code:

if(condition) {
     // ...
}

versus

Code:

if(condition)
{
     // ...
}

But also the naming convention of variables. But there is still a well-defined standard for clean and nicely formatted code. I reiterate, the reason for my moaning was mainly the way your parenthesis were indented by a different amount in different places. I suspect that you might be mixing tabs and spaces.
You might be able to set your editor to replace tabs with spaces - and if you can, you can probably set the amount of spaces it uses.

I don't know.. I've never had any complaints with this indention:

Code:

class A
{
public: 
    A() { }

    void f()
    {
        for(int i = 0, l = 10; i < l; ++i)
        {
            do_something(); // comment

            do_something_else();
        }

        boost::function<void()> on_something;
    }

    void do_something()
    {

    }

    /**
    * multi-line description
    */
    void do_something_else()
    {

    }

private:
    int something;
};

People have commented on my choice to not turn a long line into a multi-line (I use a high resolution, its not hard to read 1 line, and it looks better imo), and overusing the "public/protected/private" keyword so it coincides with other languages (Java/C#). Even though it's obvious, and I say don't comment in the first post, they still comment. So when I post code I just convert it to what the community seems to prefer, or at the very least.. very spaced so you can't complain. Meaning turn a long template, constructor, if statement, into 3+ lines.

You are referring to this thread.

Code:

for(mainDwn = 0; mainDwn < dwnMax; mainDwn++)                                                       //draw the map
    {
             for(mainAcr = 0; mainAcr < acrMax; mainAcr++)
             {

Note the inconsistency.

Code:

                 if(mapnode[mainDwn][mainAcr].Walkstate)
                 {   cR = 128; cG = 128; cB = 255; }

You are not indenting the block here + putting {} on the same line is rather ugly.

Code:

                                     for(countX = 0; countX < 14; countX++)
                                     {

                                         DrawPixel(screen,boxAcr, boxDwn,cR,cG,cB);
                                               boxAcr++;
                                     }

Why are the lines in the same block indented differently?

All in all your indentation looks completely random (you just can't entirely trust the IDE). Another question is, how come the size of each indent is different (e.g why not used 4 spaces for each indent)?

I think code::blocks comes with a code beautifier (plug-in), even though it might not match your style. For example, I prefer if's and loops like this:

Code:

if (x) {
    //...
}

and other things like this:

Code:

void foo()
{
    //...
}

Now this is a matter of taste.

Yeah and why do you put a space after a comma sometimes but not always? If I had to change your indentation, to contrast, I'd do..

Code:

for(mainDwn = 0; mainDwn < dwnMax; ++mainDwn) //draw the map
{
	for(mainAcr = 0; mainAcr < acrMax; ++mainAcr)
	{
		if(mapnode[mainDwn][mainAcr].Walkstate)
		{
			cR = 128; cG = 128; cB = 255;
		}
		else
		{
			cR = 0; cG = 0; cB = 255;
		}

		if(mapnode[mainDwn][mainAcr].STnode)
		{
			cR = 255; cG = 128; cB = 0;
		}

		if(mapnode[mainDwn][mainAcr].TGnode)
		{
			cR = 0; cG = 255; cB = 128;
		}

		/*for(countY = 0; countY < 14; ++countY)
		{
			for(countX = 0; countX < 14; ++countX)
			{
				DrawPixel(screen, boxAcr, boxDwn, cR, cG, cB);
				++boxAcr;
			}

			boxAcr -= 14;
			++boxDwn;
		}*/

		DrawBox(screen, mainDwn, mainAcr, cR, cG, cB);

		//boxDwn -= 14;
		//boxAcr += 15;
	}

	//boxAcr = 0;
	//boxDwn += 15;
}

Putting those cR/cG/cB on the same line is fine unless they do more than simple assignment.

I wouldn't be happy with those variable names, and I doubt you will be either in a few years, but yeah, indentation is the topic.

Wait so he doesn't plan out any parts of his programs before he writes them? I don't think I'd want everyone to be that kind of smart. You only listened to what he said about indenting, right?

haha I am very loosely paraphrasing, i knew it could come over like that, he was basically saying design is very important, but design methodology gets obsessed about too much at times on projects.

Code:

cR = 128; cG = 128; cB = 255;

this seems fine to me as noted in another reply, these variable are the R,G,B values, so why not have variables on the same line like this when they are related in this way? as long as i dont list fifty of them.

Code:

cR = 128, cG = 128, cB = 255;

As programming requires meticulous thinking and planning to get any real results, I wouldn't even be afraid of saying that when it comes to code formatting, many programmers either have or will end up with a tiny bit of OCD.

Albeit badly paraphrased, your point was good. Design is more important, and there are numerous and some even famous examples of IT celebs participating in a hefty debate about details as minuscule as the aforementioned spaces after commas in loops and variable definitions, and similar. No, I can't remember any specific examples, sorry. I just remember seeing them.

Personally, I hate it when my code looks bad. I still think I need to force myself to be more strict on some details, but it's nothing that keeps me up at night.

Originally Posted by rogster001

well there are certainly some freudian classics that could be applied yes..but obbsessing over minutae is what it is all about like you say, otherwise no software would be released to start with, not working versions anyhow

I don't think the styles proposed here require an "obsession" with code formatting. It's really not that hard to keep your code tidy and still release software. Sure, you'll make typos, but generally it's easier to code (read and write) if you follow one strict style.