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Q&A Is omitting braces for single statements bad practice?

Not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, CERT C EXP19-C and others). Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, bu...

posted 4y ago by Lundin‭ · edited 3y ago by Lundin‭

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#4: Post edited by

Lundin‭ · 2021-03-10T14:44:21Z (over 3 years ago)
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Not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/1QGMAg) and others).
Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.
The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:
if (invalid_login())
if (allow_guests())
privileges = GUEST;
else
privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.
---
It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they often cause more bugs than they fix. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:
if(x) {}
foo();
}
And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:
if(x) {}
if(y) {
foo();
}
Not quite what I intended.

Not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/EXP19-C.+Use+braces+for+the+body+of+an+if%2C+for%2C+or+while+statement) and others).
Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.
The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:
if (invalid_login())
if (allow_guests())
privileges = GUEST;
else
privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.
---
It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they often cause more bugs than they fix. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:
if(x) {}
foo();
}
And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:
if(x) {}
if(y) {
foo();
}
Not quite what I intended.

#3: Post edited by

Lundin‭ · 2020-10-30T16:13:27Z (about 4 years ago)

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Not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/1QGMAg) and others).
Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.
The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:
if (invalid_login())
if (allow_guests())
privileges = GUEST;
else
privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.
---
It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they cause more bugs than they fix in my experience. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:
if(x) {}
foo();
}
And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:
if(x) {}
if(y) {
foo();
}
Not quite what I intended.

Not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/1QGMAg) and others).
Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.
The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:
if (invalid_login())
if (allow_guests())
privileges = GUEST;
else
privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.
---
It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they often cause more bugs than they fix. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:
if(x) {}
foo();
}
And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:
if(x) {}
if(y) {
foo();
}
Not quite what I intended.

#2: Post edited by

Lundin‭ · 2020-10-30T16:12:24Z (about 4 years ago)

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Yes, not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/1QGMAg) and others).
Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.
The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:
if (invalid_login())
if (allow_guests())
privileges = GUEST;
else
privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.
---
It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they cause more bugs than they fix in my experience. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:
if(x) {}
foo();
}
And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:
if(x) {}
if(y) {
foo();
}
Not quite what I intended.

Not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/1QGMAg) and others).
Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.
The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:
if (invalid_login())
if (allow_guests())
privileges = GUEST;
else
privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.
---
It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they cause more bugs than they fix in my experience. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:
if(x) {}
foo();
}
And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:
if(x) {}
if(y) {
foo();
}
Not quite what I intended.

#1: Initial revision by

Lundin‭ · 2020-10-30T16:10:34Z (about 4 years ago)

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Yes, not using braces is considered bad practice by widely recognized industry coding standards (MISRA-C:2012 rule, 15.6, [CERT C EXP19-C](https://www.securecoding.cert.org/confluence/x/1QGMAg) and others).

Once upon a time I liked to skip out braces too, but every C (or other language) programmer using that style will ultimately write missing brace/indention goof-up bugs. Someone mentioned the "Apple goto fail" bug as one example, which I think is the single-most expensive software bug ever written. I used to write such bugs too now and then, until I abandoned that style. Particularly in long and complex `else-if` chains and such.

The CERT-C link above gives an excellent example:

    if (invalid_login())
      if (allow_guests())
        privileges = GUEST;
    else
      privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;

The else here ties to the inner if statement. Oops.

---

It is true that auto-indenting, auto-completion IDEs should reduce the chance for such bugs, but in my experience such IDEs are not nearly as smart as they could be - they cause more bugs than they fix in my experience. For example if I delete a { in the start of a statement in existing code, then type it again (because I replaced the whole if condition), the stupid auto-complete IDE will give you this:

    if(x) {}
      foo();
    }

And if I don't notice that extra } and continue to type:


    if(x) {}
      if(y) {
        foo(); 
    }

Not quite what I intended.

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