[prog] C and curly braces - question of style?

[Diggy Bell]

Hey Angelina,

I'm probably going to set myself up to be torched here, but braces are
something that I generally see as a matter of personal style.  Everybody has
their own personal tastes and I think this is one that shouldn't be such a
religions battle.

There are a few suggestions that you might want to keep in mind.  First, if
you're working by yourself it doesn't make much difference, but if you're
working with a team of people it really helps if everybody uses the same
style.  Second, whatever style you do choose, be consistent through our your
code.  Sometimes this means taking a few minutes to reformat code, but its
well worth it in the long run.  Finally, I strongly suggest that people use
braces even in cases where they aren't necessary.  You don't need them on a
for() loop or if() statement if there is a single line of code, but when you
go back and add a line  6 months from now it'll be a whole easier to not
accidentally leave the braces out.

In terms of the 'best' way, it doesn't make any difference to the compiler
so there isn't really a wrong way.

Hope this helps...

Diggy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "aec" <brat at magma.ca>
To: <programming at linuxchix.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 3:28 PM
Subject: [prog] C and curly braces - question of style?


> Hello,
>
> I have recently begun what is looking like a long
> and difficult journey into learning C.
>
> I am doing this from a book (Programming in C, Stephen Kochan)
> and from a tutorial I found online.
>
> At this point I am working on little examples intended
> for no other use but to teach.
>
> I am told my "style" of using curly braces {} in loops
> is not generally the best way to do it.
>
> Here is what I type for example inside a function:
>
>         tri_number = 0;
>         for (number = 1; number <= 15; ++number)
>         {
>                 tri_number = tri_number + number;
>                 printf("%2i     %i\n", number, tri_number);
>         }
>
>
> I am told however, that if you start a "for" loop, this is clearer:
>
>
>         tri_number = 0;
>         for (number = 1; number <= 15; ++number) {
>                         tri_number = tri_number + number;
>                         printf("%2i     %i\n", number, tri_number);
>         }
>
> To me, its not clearer, but who am I to argue at this point,
> but for now, id like to continue doing it my way and worry
> about actual syntax rather than style. Style isnt worth much
> if your programs dont work right?
>
> Sure, its early in the game, and I have so much ahead of me to
> learn, so why not change now to the "accepted" way? Because basically its
> another little thing to remember and I have enough to keep track of,
> and like I said, the first example to me is clear as a bell.
>
> any thoughts? or should i just worry about more important things :)
>
> -- 
> Angelina Carlton
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