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Formatting code should be unnecessary

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Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#181

Post by account42 »

lmm wrote: post #39
Avshalom wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire OS was built around these source files. the unix philosophy on the other hand only "thrives" if every other tool is designed around (and contains code to parse) "plain text"

> The entire OS was built around these source files. And how did that work out for them? This seems like one of the many cases where unix won out by being a lowest common denominator. Every platform can handle plain text.

Not all platforms come with powerful text handling tools out of the box - or at least they didn't used to until Unix-based systems forced them to catch up.

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#182

Post by gentooflux »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #174

Some (sometimes) desirable source code formatting cannot be deduced from the abstract syntax tree alone: Consider the following (pseudo-)code example: bar.glob = 1; bar.plu.a1 = 21; bar.plu.coza = fol; Should this code formatted this way? Or should it be formatted bar.glob = 1; bar.plu.a1 = 21; bar.plu.coza = fol; to emphasize that three assignments are done? Or should this code be formatted bar.glob = 1; bar.plu .a1…

The second two lines of your example smell like LoD violations. It's not a formatting problem, it's a structural problem.

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#183

Post by brettermeier »

komali2 wrote: post #119
elevation wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Formatters eliminating long lines is a pet peeve of mine. About once every other project, some portion of the source benefits from source code being arranged in a tabular format. Long lines which are juxtaposed help make dissimilar values stand out. The following table is not unlike code I have written: setup_spi(&adc, mode=SPI_01, rate=15, cs_control=CS_MUXED, cs=0x01); setup_spi(&eeprom, mode=SPI_10, rate=13, cs_co…

Devs have different pixel count screens. Your table wrapped for me. The short line equivalent looks best on my screen. Thus 80 or perhaps 120 char line lengths!

Living in the 80's XD

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#184

Post by rho4 »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #130
chowells wrote: post #86

I have to disagree with the premise. Formatting code is a critical communication channel. Well-formatted code should tell you: 1. The developer has enough experience to understand that formatting matters. 2. The developer has enough discipline to stick with their chosen formatting rules. 3. The developer has the taste necessary to choose good formatting rules. 4. The developer has the judgement necessary to identify…

There are times when you really want a specific formatting of the text, like visually turning a list into a table.

The system should support this, e.g. via // @formatter:off/on tags

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#186

Post by aleph_minus_one »

gentooflux wrote: post #182
aleph_minus_one wrote: post #174

Some (sometimes) desirable source code formatting cannot be deduced from the abstract syntax tree alone: Consider the following (pseudo-)code example: bar.glob = 1; bar.plu.a1 = 21; bar.plu.coza = fol; Should this code formatted this way? Or should it be formatted bar.glob = 1; bar.plu.a1 = 21; bar.plu.coza = fol; to emphasize that three assignments are done? Or should this code be formatted bar.glob = 1; bar.plu .a1…

The second two lines of your example smell like LoD violations. It's not a formatting problem, it's a structural problem.

Sometimes you have to use libraries that are badly designed.

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#187

Post by account42 »

benrutter wrote: post #150
Jean-Papoulos wrote: post #128

So I need to run a tool to even be able to read the code. No thank you, if anything goes wrong your file is now garbage.

In theory that's true of standard office document files too (.docx etc)? Don't think I've encountered too many issues of that actually happening though in the wild? I'm mainly just being pedantic to be honest, I realise my comment is just me essentially saying "what could possiblye go wrong?"

Word documents absolutely do get messed up if you open it in a different office suite - or even a different enough version of the same suite.

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#188

Post by account42 »

eviks wrote: post #63
shmerl wrote: post #3

You can't easily search / grep etc. an IR, unless you use some kind of reverse translator. Readable source files have their benefits in being simple in that sense.

> unless you use some kind of reverse translator Would a few decades help in universally having such a translator in all the tools?

In all the tools? No, you'd need an infinite amount of time for that.

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#189

Post by deadbabe »

automatoney wrote: post #50

I've never understood why people care so much about the linter settings. It's so obviously bikeshedding, just make a choice, run the linter automatically and be done with it. I'm too busy doing actual software engineering to care about where exactly everything goes - I promise after a week you'll just get used to whatever format your team lands on.

It’s more of a political thing. Controlling the linter is the first step of kingdom building.

Re: Formatting code should be unnecessary

#190

Post by eviks »

account42 wrote: post #188
eviks wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unless you use some kind of reverse translator Would a few decades help in universally having such a translator in all the tools?

In all the tools? No, you'd need an infinite amount of time for that.

The tools didn't require an infinite amount of time to write, why would it take infinity to change a format??? (but no not all the tools, just all the ones that are used)
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