[Nykc]

I know this subject can tend to get heated amongst true hardcore programmers, but curiosity has the best of me.

So lets here about it and why do you prefer this method of indentation?

if (expression) { 
     statements
}

if (expression)
{
     statements
}

if (expression)
     {
     statements
     }

the above mentioned ways seem to be the most common I came across and I notice different programmers prefer different ways from my experience.

Personally I prefer the top two depending on the situation. Most commonly I will use the top if statement - to me it is more readable and cleaner looking.

Sometimes I prefer to write my code this way.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{ 

    int a = 1, b = 1, c;
    if (c = (a - b )) { 
        cout << "The value of c is: " <<  c;
    return 0;
}

So lets discuss.

This post has been edited by Nykc: 19 July 2008 - 09:06 AM

[Cerolobo]

I tend of use Allman/ANSI style, with a tab size of 2. IE

int main(void)
{
  int a;
  int foo;

  if(a == foo)
  {
	/* stuff */
  }

  return 0;
}

It's just easier for me to figure out what scope all the variables are in. Plus, it usually makes it easier to modify (you can comment out a full if statement, for example).

Edit: Plus, it prevents errors like this...

	 if (c = (a - b )) {   // <-- Open bracket, but no close bracket
		 cout << "The value of c is: " <<  c; 

This post has been edited by Cerolobo: 19 July 2008 - 09:27 AM

[NickDMax]

I used to use a style like:

if (condition) 
{
	while(condition2) 
	{   
		/* some stuff */
	}
}

And then I worked a project where they actually specified the style:

if (condition) {
	while(condition2) {   
		/* some stuff */
	}
}

I seem to have adopted this change (you can actually see the change in the posts in this forum). I agree that this can make matching brackets harder -- but I find it easier to read and I find the indention enough to locate missing brackets. (I suppose this works for me because I ALWAYS use brackets so a line that begins "if" opens a bracket...).

Really it matter very little to me how you indent, so long as you do. The one thing though that I insist upon that other programmers see as useless waste of time is that I ALWAYS use brackets. I don't generally write code like this:

if (condition)
	while (condition)
		/* statement here */;

I hate the missing brackets.

But really it should not be a religious battle because although we may have our own style, we all have to get used to reading other peoples code and a programmer should be able to read any of the styles.

[Einherjar]

I always use:

if()
{
  stuff;
}

Just easier for me to read and figure out where and what all the brackets go to.

[NickDMax]

on my laptop here I tend to use Dev-C++ as an ide... and I have to say that it sucks at helping me with the code format. I have no idea what style it was programmed with, but it never does what I want. Given the other IDE's that I use, I am used to them conforming to my style.

This post has been edited by NickDMax: 19 July 2008 - 01:00 PM

[PsychoCoder]

If I have several lines of code to execute inside an if statement, I use the normal

if(something here)
{
       //do my stuff here
}
else
{
     //do other stuff here
}

Otherwise I've been known to use the one line version

if(somethinghere) //Do something here

[Tom9729]

I ALWAYS use brackets, and I always start the brackets on the line after a statement.

For comments within functions, I stick with double forward-slash comments (that way I can use multiline comments to easily comment out a whole section).

[Nykc]

Very informative. It is just interesting to see all the different styles people use. I remember writing some code and when a senior programmer looked at it he always commented on the way I used indentation and then reading over some textbooks I came across the argument of which style is better.

@NickDMax - I use Code::Blocks IDE and haven't had too many formatting issues with it yet, of course none of my programs have been more than 250 lines of code as of yet either.

[Tom9729]

Most IDE's will have some kind of auto-formatting. The good ones will actually let you change it.

[no2pencil]

I think I'm the only person in the world that puts the curley bracket on the same line as the conditional

if {
   ...
}

In C/C++ I always use brackets. In PHP I will sometimes cheat & just use one line

if(!$_GET['stuff']) echo "It didn't get!");

I know I probably shouldn't, but I sometimes do.

I never put a single line on the 2nd line under the conditional without brackets. It looks juvenile, & it almost impossible to read. The same can be said for curley brackets on the same line... never, it looks juvenile.

[Tom9729]

Juveniles `gotta write code too yah know.

[no2pencil]

Tom9729, on 19 Jul, 2008 - 11:13 PM, said:

Juveniles `gotta write code too yah know.

Sure. Granted. They should, however, properly indent. But they don't.

[RodgerB]

My style is pretty much PsychoCoder's. C# and Visual Studio softly nudge you into using it (with its auto-correctness).

[KyleG]

It would be nice if this thread also had a poll.

I use the first style in that list, with the opening curly on the same line as the conditional statement. It's the style that I'm accustomed to right now, but for years I used the other popular one with a new line for the curly. I don't have a preference though. There's really no rock-solid, undeniable reason for using either style.

RodgerB, on 20 Jul, 2008 - 12:02 AM, said:

My style is pretty much PsychoCoder's. C# and Visual Studio softly nudge you into using it (with its auto-correctness).

You know, you can chose (in the Options menu) which direction VS softly nudges you. I'm not saying you should change your style. But anybody using VS should definitely set their curly style in the options so you're not fighting the IDE every step of the way.

[NickDMax]

There was at one time a reason for one over the other.

The style:

for (condition) {
	while (condition) {
		//do something here
	}
}

was used in publishing (back in the hay day of computer programming magazines) to conserver real estate. This also produces (arguably) smaller source code files -- which is handy when disk space was expensive.