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
_________