"I was really excited to write this article, because it gave me an excuse to really think about what beautiful code is. I still don't think I know, and maybe it's entirely subjective. I do think the two biggest things, for me at least, are stylistic indenting and maximum const-ness. A lot of the stylistic choices are definitely my personal preferences, and I'm sure other programmers will have different opinions. I think the choice of what style to use is up to whoever has to read and write the code, but I certainly think it's something worth thinking about. I would suggest everyone look at the Doom 3 source code because I think it exemplifies beautiful code, as a complete package: from system design down to how to tab space the characters." John Carmack himself replies in the comments.
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Member since:2005-11-15
Not just a matter of aesthetics; it also depends on the tools you use.
With XEmacs, when the cursor is at a closing brace, the line with the matching opening brace is shown in the status bar.
With this setup, it is advantageous to place the opening brace and function definition on the same line for quick reference.
Member since:2009-08-18
I also think it depends on the language you are writing in where you should put it.
e.g.
If it is JavaScript Douglas Crockford recommends the opening brace should be on the first line, because of JavaScript semi-colon insertion mechanism.
Java is the same due to convention. Microsoft recommend you use opening brace on the following line as you do when writing C# and is the visual studio intellisense default.
Personally I somewhat agree with the OP and I have had a gutful of C style syntax.
Member since:2011-06-26
Same, Allman style is the best!
Especially when programmers tend to have atleast 1200 pixels of height on their screens (well atleast I hope programmers are smarter than average consumer and don't give in into 16:9 fad just because it's cheaper for Samsung to make 23" 16:9 than 23" 16:10...).
Edited 2013-01-16 11:04 UTC
Member since:2006-03-03
Please, be my guest :
http://www.codeproject.com/script/Articles/MemberArticles.aspx?amid...
Especially check my CSkinProgress and WaterMarker source code : space instead of tab, 2 space indent, hungarian notation, one instruction per line, etc...
Kochise
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Member since:
2006-05-09
You'll learn to love them; like the most of us
You can start flamewars just because of mentioning where the curly braces should be!!
I actually prefer writing:
int main()
{
}
to
int main() {
}
but, apart of feeling it more natural and making easier to see where a block starts and ends, I do not have any excuse to prefer it over the other one.