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Comments on Is omitting braces for single statements bad practice?
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Is omitting braces for single statements bad practice?
Consider this code:
while(arr[index] != 0)
index++;
vs
while(arr[index] != 0) {
index++;
}
Personally, I prefer the first. The fact that the braces are not needed makes them -- unnecessary. :)
To me, it's just clutter that wastes a line. Or 2 if you're one of them that also want the opening brace on a new line. The line waste can be avoided though, if you do like this:
while(arr[index] != 0) index++;
I often do that, and I like the style. Partially because it makes those loops stand out from loops with braces.
One argument I've heard for always using braces is that if you want to add another statement, then you need to remember adding braces or you will have bugs that can be hard to find. For instance, this would be an endless loop:
while(arr[index] != 0)
println("No zero found");
index++;
While this is technically true that this mistake can be done, I find it a bit meh as an argument. If you're using an editor that autoindents the code, this mistake would be spotted immediately. And since using such an editor is something that you should do anyway, the point of this argument is a bit moot.
Plus, even though I have often coded without such an editor, I cannot remember ever doing that mistake. It feels like a mistake that one could do if you're used to Python. But adjusting coding standards of C, C++, Java and such to not confuse Python coders does not really seem like the right path to go.
Apart from this argument, I have not really seen anything else than the consistency argument. That always using the same style is consistent. Well it's true, but consistency is not ALWAYS good.
Have I missed something here? What do you say? Is omitting braces for single statements bad practice?
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Post
Advantages of Mandatory Braces
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since every popular coding standard for java mandates the use of braces, and every popular code style checking tool enforces their use, omitting these braces is highly unusual, making your code slightly harder to maintain for those unused to that.
- Omitted braces have contributed to some rather serious bugs.
Disadvantages of Mandatory Braces
- Additional programmer effort for writing the braces. Can be largely mitigated by tooling (for instance by configuring an eclipse save action to add them automatically)
- Additional programmer effort for skipping over braces when reading code. This effect is likely very small, since java programmers are highly used to dealing with braces anyway.
Conclusion
While the advantages of mandatory braces are usually small, the cost of using them seems even smaller. So if I had to decide, I'd write those braces.
However, since the difference is so small, I'd not expend significant effort or political capital on this.
2 comment threads