Re: Case dependence and coding standards

[Wesley Groleau <wesgroleau@despammed.com>]

> : my intuition is influenced by the empirical studies I've read on
> : readability and human factors, as well as by the numerous

Well, the studies I've read are not right at hand
(stashed away in boxes of paper) but I remember that
one of the books was by Deborah J. Mayhew: Principles
and guidelines in software user interface design
And it did have plenty of citations.  A little old,
but lots of good info in it.

However, one thing about the book bothered me:
Inside both covers were figures with captions
about how the figure illustrated this or that
effective use of color for this or that purpose.
Unfortunately, some idiot at the publishing house
decided to save money by printing them all gray scale!

In teaching and reading, it's hard to be specific,
but things that are suitable for tables should _be_
in tables instead of prose.  It's just easier to take
in the concepts.  This would be almost any sort of
list or repetitive structure.  An if statement is
not repetitive, so nothing is gained by tabular structure.
A case statement, or an if with multiple elsifs, or
a list of declarations is basically a table.

And tables are easier to read if they are really tables.
I understand that source code is affected by other factors
which can make tabular format impractical sometimes.
At those times, a little thought can select the most
readable format.

But, now that I've soapboxed on that a while, let me
freely admit that it's NOT the most important thing
in maintainable code.