Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!hardin From: hardin@hpindda.HP.COM (John Hardin) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: pretty program for C Message-ID: <4330107@hpindda.HP.COM> Date: 23 Sep 88 16:50:14 GMT References: <668@sunspot.UUCP> Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA Lines: 28 >Although a 'pretty' program like UNIX 'indent' may be very useful, >being in a professional programming environment has taught me one very >important thing - make the format of your programming so automatic >that you don't need a code formatter. Many years of experience of many >software engineers here have proven this to be true. If you have to >use a 'pretty' program, it has the possibility of screwing up your >intentions in some places instead of cleaning up your style. Also, using >a 'pretty' program tends to let you get sloppy in your style and this >will carry over into your coding practices. > > Dion Hollenbeck >---------- I heartily agree, but that doesn't mean you don't occasionally need a "pretty" program to fix up someone elses code to make it more readable. I've found that everyone seems to have a different idea about what consititutes "pretty" code. I suspect that some of these differences may be unresolvable because they come from brain physiology (e.g., left-brain/right-brain dominance, etc.). Might be nice if there were a customizable pretty-print program that would allow each of use to deal with code in a format suited to our individual needs. This might require a standard code file storage format that could be easily understood by everyone's personal pretty printer. Dream on... John Hardin hardin%hpindda@hplabs.hp.com _________