Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 15th Jan 2013 21:24 UTC
"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.
Thread beginning with comment 548941
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2006-05-09
Member since:2005-11-13
I actually prefer the first way myself, even though I can read the second. In general, I don't mind code that's a little more verbose, if it's easier to read.
Obviously though, there is a tradeoff between readability and verbosity; if you're using 30 lines of code to do something that could be done in 3, you could probably do better. On the other hand, if those 3 lines of code look like modem line noise on a terminal (as many perl scripts seem to end up looking like), I'd rather have the 30 lines 
Member since:2006-01-25
I had a computer programming teacher that used to prefer:
a = a + 1;
to
a++;
in the name of readibility!!!
a = a + 1;
to
a++;
in the name of readibility!!!
If it is purely a readability argument, I see no reason to not use the increment operator, as long as it is alone or just being used in a loop construct. Throwing it into an array index or dropping it into a computation is confusing and dangerous.
Your teacher may have just been trying to avoid having to deal with explaining prefix vs postfix increment, how they evaluate, and all the confusion that usually leads to with a newish programmer. Sometimes teachers do things that seem silly and pointless when your still green around the ears but 20 years later you go "yeah, I get it now"...
Edited 2013-01-16 02:56 UTC
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2009-03-17
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2007-03-26
Having programmed in both, I they both have pros and cons.
The real problems are:
1: badly formatted code,
2: lack of naming conventions,
3: and bad program design
1
--
Badly formatted code will make even the most readable of languages a struggle to follow.
2
--
It doesn't matter how well you format your code, if your function / variable names are badly chosen (eg abbreviated names that mean nothing to anyone but the developer) and there's no clear naming convention, then it can be a tough job understanding what the routine does.
I will also add, overly verbose names are bad too (I have one colleague who uses entire sentences in their function names. While it's helps explain what the function does, it makes code readability more challenging).
3
--
Bad program design is a more subjective topic. Most (if not all) developers roughly agree on indentation; and naming conventions only have to be readable, concise and consistent. Not everyone agrees on the specifics of naming conventions, but as long as those 3 criteria are met, then anyone new to the code can quickly understand the standards applied to that particular project.
However bad program design is about the code design of the code - when to you objects, functions, iteration and so on. Sometimes application performance is paramount, which often means writing clever routines in a manner that isn't ideal for a human reading back. Other times you'll be writing a program which isn't going to tax the processor much, so you can afford to opt for readability over performance (Sometimes you're lucky and the optimised code is also the most readable code).
Then you have people using obscure language features or unpopular features (goto is a great example of that. But thankfully there's very few occasions when a goto is the better method of writing a routine).
And after all that, you have the topic of code separation (eg using MVC's in web development to keep server side code separate from HTML).
----------
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether your language uses English words or braces - a good developer can make their code readable.
But also, a lot of it comes down to practice. If you've never spent any time developing in C-derived languages, then the C syntax will naturally look a mess. But most developers get used to it and even come to love braces (that certainly happened to me).