Re: Bad coding standards

[Marin David Condic <mcondic.nospam@acm.org>]

In any case (pun intended :-) this seems to be basically a non-issue. If you
like all upper case, you're free to use it. If you like C++ coding
conventions, you're free to do that too. Consistency within a project is
probably more important than specifically what style you choose. Consistency
means that someone reading your code within a project will more immediately
recognize what they are looking at. People who look at my code may not always
like the way I have done things, but it at least looks like it was done in a
very mechanistic style, with very consistent rules that help them recognize
what is going on. (Anyone can visit my web site and look over code I have made
available there if they are curious about my style...) This is much superior
to code that looks like it was "Organically Grown".

I started out with Ada using all upper case for identifiers, following the
convention of the standard (Ada83). I think maybe I did so because of ancient
history. Slowly, I was persuaded to use mixed case. I think I've grown to like
the appearance of mixed case because it just looks nicer. But its a matter of
taste and if someone uses all upper case or the C/C++ convention of mixed case
with no underscores, I can live with it and work with it. Make the code look
like the rest of the code in the project (unless it is hopelessly messy!) and
you're doing a favor to those that come after you. If the code is started from
bottom-dead-center, then establish a style and stick to it. The visual
consistency will help those that come later recognize what is happening more
quickly.

MDC

Tucker Taft wrote:

> Well, as usual, we each have our own interpretation of history.
> For what it is worth, my memory is that the Ada 9X design team really
> hated the ALL CAPS convention of Ada 83.  Perhaps Robert is giving
> the reason why the proposed change was accepted by the
> reviewers, rather than the reason why the change was
> proposed in the first place.

--
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Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - http://www.quadruscorp.com/
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