Re: [PATCH/RFC] Documenation update: use of braces in if/else if/else chain

From: Leila <muhtasib@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 10, 2012, 20:52 UTC
Message-ID: <CAA3EhHLepTC2WThDvAWk5WPcMPQapqo=D7KhpdCESy9D9JO4vg@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20120610202205.GA2052@burratino>

On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 4:22 PM, Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> Also true.  But:
>
>        /* correct */
>        if (bla) {
>                x = 1;
>                ...
>        } else
>                x = 2;
>

According to a discussion on my patch, this was cited (not in ref to my code): Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> a écrit :

Two points on style (also appear elsewhere in this patch):

       if (!"applying") {
               ...
       } else {
               state->rebase_in_progress = 1;
       }

 - "else" comes on the same line as closing "}" of its "if" block;

 - if one of if/else if/else chain has multiple statement block, use {}
  even for a single statement block in the chain.

So I opened this documentation patch to gain consensus around this issue, and update the docs accordingly. Depending on the agreement reached, I can modify the wording of the patch. I don't need to site the linux Kernel part, I can just say what is supported in this project.

I think we should still keep this part of the patch:

+    And "else"
+   should come on the same line as the closing "}" of its "if" block.

Show 19 quoted lines

> And:
>
> If you have a long "if" with a one-line "else", consider whether you
> are needlessly keeping the reader in suspense about something simple.
> It might be more pleasant to read with the exceptional case up front:
>
>        if (!bla) {
>                x = 2;
>        } else {
>                x = 1;
>                ...
>        }
>
> This is especially true when the exceptional case returns or exits.
>
>        if (bla && no_bla)
>                return error("--blah and --no-blah cannot be used together");
>        x = 1;
>        ...

Agreed!

Thanks, Leila