maint: document dislike of mismatched if/else bracing

* docs/hacking.html.in (Curly braces): Tighten recommendations to
disallow if (cond) one-line; else { block; }.
* HACKING: Regenerate.
Suggested by Daniel P. Berrange.
This commit is contained in:
Eric Blake
2011-01-05 10:58:35 -07:00
parent cd6a8f9ce2
commit 1000d9c2b0
2 changed files with 54 additions and 33 deletions

View File

@@ -209,11 +209,13 @@
<p>
However, there is one exception in the other direction, when even a
one-line block should have braces. That occurs when that one-line,
brace-less block is an <code>else</code> block, and the corresponding
<code>then</code> block <b>does</b> use braces. In that case, either
put braces around the <code>else</code> block, or negate the
<code>if</code>-condition and swap the bodies, putting the
one-line block first and making the longer, multi-line block be the
brace-less block is an <code>if</code> or <code>else</code>
block, and the counterpart block <b>does</b> use braces. In
that case, put braces around both blocks. Also, if
the <code>else</code> block is much shorter than
the <code>if</code> block, consider negating the
<code>if</code>-condition and swapping the bodies, putting the
short block first and making the longer, multi-line block be the
<code>else</code> block.
</p>
@@ -223,19 +225,11 @@
...
}
else
x = y; // BAD: braceless "else" with braced "then"
</pre>
x = y; // BAD: braceless "else" with braced "then",
// and short block last
<p>
This is preferred, especially when the multi-line body is more than a
few lines long, because it is easier to read and grasp the semantics of
an if-then-else block when the simpler block occurs first, rather than
after the more involved block:
</p>
<pre>
if (!expr)
x = y; // putting the smaller block first is more readable
if (expr)
x = y; // BAD: braceless "if" with braced "else"
else {
...
...
@@ -243,11 +237,29 @@
</pre>
<p>
If you'd rather not negate the condition, then at least add braces:
Keeping braces consistent and putting the short block first is
preferred, especially when the multi-line body is more than a
few lines long, because it is easier to read and grasp the semantics of
an if-then-else block when the simpler block occurs first, rather than
after the more involved block:
</p>
<pre>
if (expr) {
if (!expr) {
x = y; // putting the smaller block first is more readable
} else {
...
...
}
</pre>
<p>
But if negating a complex condition is too ugly, then at least
add braces:
</p>
<pre>
if (complex expr not worth negating) {
...
...
} else {