From: mheaney@ni.net (Matthew Heaney)
Subject: Re: Coding Standards & GOTO
Date: 1997/09/24
Date: 1997-09-24T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <mheaney-ya023680002409972202320001@news.ni.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 3427E983.6CAC@hazeltine.com
In article <3427E983.6CAC@hazeltine.com>, rose@hazeltine.com wrote:
>We have a coding standard that only contains absolute rules (and
>prohibits GOTOs). But the coding standard also says that deviations are
>permitted provided the file header identifies each deviation and
>provides a justification. No approvals are needed.
My advice to writers of coding standards to NOT follow the above advice.
We tried this on a recent project and guess what: no one even reads the
header.
Don't publish absolute rules, publish guidelines, and enumerate the times
when the guideline doesn't apply.
If you the programmer are unsure whether an approach is controversial (say,
using goto's to write a scanner), then get some advice from the good
programmers on your staff. Advice from a peer whom you respect carries a
lot more weight than absolute rules handed down from Moses.
See Scott Meyers' Effective C++ books, and the Taligent Guide too, for
excellent examples of what a coding standard look like.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Heaney
Software Development Consultant
<mailto:matthew_heaney@acm.org>
(818) 985-1271
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1997-09-24 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 30+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1997-09-17 0:00 Is there an ADA analogue to the C++ continue statement? Heath, Terry D.
1997-09-18 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
1997-09-18 0:00 ` Pascal Obry
1997-09-18 0:00 ` Samuel Tardieu
1997-09-18 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1997-09-19 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <3422F037.41CA@lmco.com>
1997-09-20 0:00 ` dan13
1997-09-21 0:00 ` Robert Dewar
[not found] ` <3426B51E.7296@lmco.com>
1997-09-22 0:00 ` Coding Standards & GOTO Matthew Heaney
1997-09-23 0:00 ` Mark A Biggar
1997-09-24 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-09-24 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-09-24 0:00 ` Aaron Quantz
1997-09-26 0:00 ` Charles H. Sampson
1997-09-23 0:00 ` Charles Rose
1997-09-24 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney [this message]
1997-09-25 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-09-23 0:00 ` Coding Standards W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-09-22 0:00 ` Is there an ADA analogue to the C++ continue statement? Richard D Riehle
1997-09-23 0:00 ` GOTO considered Satanic (was: Is there an ADA analogue to the C++ continue statement?) Adam Beneschan
1997-09-24 0:00 ` W. Wesley Groleau x4923
1997-09-24 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-09-25 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1997-09-26 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1997-09-26 0:00 ` Brian Rogoff
1997-10-07 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1997-09-25 0:00 ` Alan Brain
1997-09-25 0:00 ` Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
1997-09-22 0:00 ` Is there an ADA analogue to the C++ continue statement? Richard A. O'Keefe
1997-09-29 0:00 ` John G. Volan
replies disabled
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox