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Survey Results

Is the way source code looks as important as how it runs?   [Edit]

Survey period: 29 Jul 2002 to 4 Aug 2002

Some people are code formatting nuts while others feel that as long as it's tight it's good enough. What's your opinion?

OptionVotes% 
Formatting is most important because nothing's worth doing if you don't look good doing it.756.22
Formatting is important because it makes optimisation, bug fixing etc. easier.64453.44
They are both equally important.34328.46
Performance over good looks. The user doesn't see the code.1068.80
It was hard to write so it should be even harder to read.221.83
I really don't care.151.24



 
GeneralRe: Entropy Rules Pin
Chris Maunder31-Jul-02 14:08
cofounderChris Maunder31-Jul-02 14:08 
GeneralRe: Entropy Rules Pin
ColinDavies31-Jul-02 17:35
ColinDavies31-Jul-02 17:35 
GeneralRe: Entropy Rules Pin
Paul Watson4-Aug-02 1:41
sitebuilderPaul Watson4-Aug-02 1:41 
GeneralRe: Entropy Rules Pin
George4-Aug-02 3:02
George4-Aug-02 3:02 
GeneralFormatting is important because.... Pin
Roger Allen29-Jul-02 5:30
Roger Allen29-Jul-02 5:30 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
James R. Twine29-Jul-02 7:42
James R. Twine29-Jul-02 7:42 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Armen Hakobyan29-Jul-02 11:31
professionalArmen Hakobyan29-Jul-02 11:31 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
UltraJoe30-Jul-02 1:49
UltraJoe30-Jul-02 1:49 
I agree with the formatting (but NOT with the Hungarian Notation idea!!! Mad | :mad: ). However, I've seen this go way over the edge, too, with "style guides" that mandate a particular number of spaces to indent, that all constants (even 0 and 1) must be #define'd (even when 0 and 1 would make more sense), or other things so piddly and against the development environment that it becomes more work to maintain the formatting vs. maintaining the code.

(Regarding my anti-Hungarian Notation thing, in my 20+ years of experience, I've rarely needed to know at a particular spot what type a variable is supposed to be, but I've often needed to know what the purpose for a variable is. Sorry, but lpszText doesn't tell me beans. What's the text supposed to contain? Confused | :confused: Besides, it can be a maintenance nightmare when you discover that you need to change the datatype for whatever reason (e.g., it comes from an external source, and it changes from an int to a float).)
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Armen Hakobyan30-Jul-02 6:37
professionalArmen Hakobyan30-Jul-02 6:37 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
UltraJoe30-Jul-02 7:55
UltraJoe30-Jul-02 7:55 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Armen Hakobyan30-Jul-02 11:53
professionalArmen Hakobyan30-Jul-02 11:53 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
UltraJoe31-Jul-02 8:04
UltraJoe31-Jul-02 8:04 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Armen Hakobyan31-Jul-02 11:47
professionalArmen Hakobyan31-Jul-02 11:47 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Philip Patrick31-Jul-02 1:56
professionalPhilip Patrick31-Jul-02 1:56 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
UltraJoe31-Jul-02 8:09
UltraJoe31-Jul-02 8:09 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Philip Patrick31-Jul-02 9:36
professionalPhilip Patrick31-Jul-02 9:36 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
UltraJoe1-Aug-02 10:01
UltraJoe1-Aug-02 10:01 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
KarstenK30-Jul-02 1:10
mveKarstenK30-Jul-02 1:10 
GeneralRe: Formatting is important because.... Pin
Marc Clifton31-Jul-02 11:51
mvaMarc Clifton31-Jul-02 11:51 
GeneralIf it looks bad, it most likely runs bad as well... Pin
George28-Jul-02 21:00
George28-Jul-02 21:00 
GeneralRe: If it looks bad, it most likely runs bad as well... Pin
Alexandru Savescu28-Jul-02 23:21
Alexandru Savescu28-Jul-02 23:21 
GeneralRe: If it looks bad, it most likely runs bad as well... Pin
George29-Jul-02 3:26
George29-Jul-02 3:26 
GeneralRe: If it looks bad, it most likely runs bad as well... Pin
Anonymous29-Jul-02 22:32
Anonymous29-Jul-02 22:32 
GeneralRe: If it looks bad, it most likely runs bad as well... Pin
Tim Smith31-Jul-02 5:13
Tim Smith31-Jul-02 5:13 
GeneralRe: If it looks bad, it most likely runs bad as well... Pin
Mike Pulice30-Jul-02 12:06
Mike Pulice30-Jul-02 12:06 

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