Programming style
Programming style is a set of rules or guidelines used when writing the source code for a computer program. It is often claimed that following a particular programming style will help programmers to read and understand source code conforming to the style, and help to avoid introducing errors.
A classic work on the subject was The Elements of Programming Style, written in the 1970s, and illustrated with examples from the Fortran and PL/I languages prevalent at the time.
The programming style used in a particular program may be derived from the coding conventions of a company or other computing organization, as well as the preferences of the author of the code. Programming styles are often designed for a specific programming language (or language family): style considered good in C source code may not be appropriate for BASIC source code, and so on. However, some rules are commonly applied to many languages.
Elements of good style
Good style is a subjective matter, and is difficult to define. However, there are several elements common to a large number of programming styles. The issues usually considered as part of programming style include the layout of the source code, including indentation; the use of white space around operators and keywords; the capitalization or otherwise of keywords and variable names; the style and spelling of user-defined identifiers, such as function, procedure and variable names; and the use and style of comments.
Code appearance
Programming styles commonly deal with the visual appearance of source code, with the goal of readability. Software has long been available that formats source code automatically, leaving coders to concentrate on naming, logic, and higher techniques. As a practical point, using a computer to format source code saves time, and it is possible to then enforce company-wide standards without debates.
Indentation
Indent styles assist in identifying control flow and blocks of code. In some programming languages indentation is used to delimit logical blocks of code; correct indentation in these cases is more than a matter of style. In other languages indentation and white space do not affect function, although logical and consistent indentation makes code more readable. Compare:
if (hours < 24 && minutes < 60 && seconds < 60) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
or
if (hours < 24 && minutes < 60 && seconds < 60)
{
return true;
}
else
{
return false;
}
with something like
if ( hours < 24
&& minutes < 60
&& seconds < 60
)
{return true
;} else
{return false
;}
The first two examples are probably much easier to read because they are indented in an established way (a "hanging paragraph" style). This indentation style is especially useful when dealing with multiple nested constructs.
Note however that this example is the same as simply:
return (hours < 24 && minutes < 60 && seconds < 60);
ModuLiq
The ModuLiq Zero Indent Style groups with carriage returns rather than indents. Compare all of the above to:
if (hours < 24 && minutes < 60 && seconds < 60)
return true;
else
return false;
Lua
Lua does not use the traditional curly braces or parenthesis. if/else statements only require the expression be followed by then, and closing the if/else statement with end.
if hours < 24 and minutes < 60 and seconds < 60 then
return true
else
return false
end
Indentation is optional. and,or,not are used in between true/false statements.
They are true/false statements, as
print(not true)
would mean false.
Python
Python uses indentation to indicate control structures, so correct indentation is required. By doing this, the need for bracketing with curly braces (i.e. { and }) is eliminated. On the other hand copying and pasting Python code can lead to problems, because the indentation level of the pasted code may not be the same as the indentation level of the current line. Such reformatting can be tedious to do by hand, but some text editors and IDEs have features to do it automatically. There are also problems when Python code being rendered unusable when posted on a forum or web page that removes white space, though this problem can be avoided where it is possible to enclose code in white space-preserving tags such as "<pre> ... </pre>" (for HTML), "[code]" ... "[/code]" (for bbcode), etc.
if hours < 24 and minutes < 60 and seconds < 60:
return True
else:
return False
Notice that Python does not use curly braces, but a regular colon (e.g. else:).
Many Python programmers tend to follow a commonly agreed style guide known as PEP8.[1] There are tools designed to automate PEP8 compliance.
Haskell
Haskell similarly has the off-side rule which lets indentation define blocks. However, unlike Python, Haskell uses whitespace in this fashion simply as a form of syntactic sugar—explicit curly braces and semicolons can be (and occasionally are) used instead.
Vertical alignment
It is often helpful to align similar elements vertically, to make typo-generated bugs more obvious. Compare:
$search = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e');
$replacement = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quux');
// Another example:
$value = 0;
$anothervalue = 1;
$yetanothervalue = 2;
with:
$search = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e');
$replacement = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quux');
// Another example:
$value = 0;
$anothervalue = 1;
$yetanothervalue = 2;
The latter example makes two things intuitively clear that were not clear in the former:
- the search and replace terms are related and match up: they are not discrete variables;
- there is one more search term than there are replacement terms. If this is a bug, it is now more likely to be spotted.
However, note that there are arguments against vertical alignment:
- Inter-line false dependencies; tabular formatting creates dependencies across lines. For example, if an identifier with a long name is added to a tabular layout, the column width may have to be increased to accommodate it. This forces a bigger change to the source code than necessary, and the essential change may be lost in the noise. This is detrimental to Revision control where inspecting differences between versions is essential.
- Brittleness; if a programmer does not neatly format the table when making a change, maybe legitimately with the previous point in mind, the result becomes a mess that deteriorates with further such changes. Simple refactoring operations, such as search-and-replace, may also break the formatting.
- Resistance to modification; tabular formatting requires more effort to maintain. This may put off a programmer from making a beneficial change, such as adding, correcting or improving the name of an identifier, because it will mess up the formatting.
- Reliance on mono-spaced font; tabular formatting assumes that the editor uses a fixed-width font. Many modern code editors support proportional fonts, and the programmer may prefer to use a proportional font for readability.
- Tool dependence; some of the effort of maintaining alignment can be alleviated by tools (e.g. a source code editor that supports elastic tabstops), although that creates a reliance on such tools.
For example, if a simple refactoring operation is performed on the code above, renaming variables "$replacement" to "$r" and "$anothervalue" to "$a", the resulting code will look like this:
$search = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e');
$r = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quux');
// Another example:
$value = 0;
$a = 1;
$yetanothervalue = 2;
The original sequential formatting will still look fine after such change:
$search = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e');
$r = array('foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'quux');
// Another example:
$value = 0;
$a = 1;
$yetanothervalue = 2;
Spaces
In those situations where some white space is required the grammars of most free-format languages are unconcerned with the amount that appears. Style related to white space is commonly used to enhance readability. There are currently no known hard facts (conclusions from studies) about which of the whitespace styles have the best readability.
For instance, compare the following syntactically equivalent examples of C code:
int i;
for(i=0;i<10;++i){
printf("%d",i*i+i);
}
versus
int i;
for (i=0; i<10; ++i) {
printf("%d", i*i+i);
}
versus
int i;
for (i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
printf("%d", i * i + i);
}
Tabs
The use of tabs to create white space presents particular issues when not enough care is taken because the location of the tabulation point can be different depending on the tools being used and even the preferences of the user.
As an example, one programmer prefers tab stops of four and has his toolset configured this way, and uses these to format his code.
int ix; // Index to scan array
long sum; // Accumulator for sum
Another programmer prefers tab stops of eight, and his toolset is configured this way. When he examines his code, he may well find it difficult to read.
int ix; // Index to scan array
long sum; // Accumulator for sum
One widely used solution to this issue may involve forbidding the use of tabs for alignment or rules on how tab stops must be set. Note that tabs work fine provided they are used consistently, restricted to logical indentation, and not used for alignment:
class MyClass {
int foobar(int qux, // first parameter
int quux); // second parameter
int foobar2(int qux, // first parameter
int quux, // second parameter
int quuux); // third parameter
};
See also
References
- ↑ "PEP 0008 -- Style Guide for Python Code". python.org.