The Weird and The Wonderful

Robert Rohde25-Jan-12 1:31

25-Jan-12 1:31

I should probably clarify why and how this code was created:

We have a relatively large codebase. Some code files are old (C# 1.0 times) and contain tabs instead of white spaces (this was the default setting in VS2003 if I remember correctly). Now everytime we edit one of those files Visual Studio (now 2010) starts replacing the tabs automatically. This is simply annoying when using diffs and can be a complete pain when doing merges in our SVN. So we just had the idea to replace all left tabs with one big update.
While discussing on how to do it was just an amusing idea to make it with Linq. The code was executed exactly one time (ignoring test runs) and will never be touched again. Its nothing that will get checked in in production code or anything like that.

Robert

BobJanova25-Jan-12 8:16

BobJanova

25-Jan-12 8:16

(This is kind of off topic but Smile | :)

I don't understand why they changed to defaulting to putting spaces at the front. If there are tabs (one tab per indent), it's easy for each developer to set his tab size to what's comfortable for him, and everyone gets to see the code with the indentation they like. As soon as it's spaces everyone's forced to view it the same way.

I get around this by using a non-fixed-pitch IDE font (so spaces are narrow) but it just seems like a big step backwards. Tabs are there for exactly this purpose.

riced25-Jan-12 10:54

riced

25-Jan-12 10:54

I think the problem is when the two are mixed in the same line. Then it does not seem to matter how you set them lines don't align. Smile | :)

I also worked on a VMS system where the default was to use tabs - but it had stops at every 8 columns and if you set yours differently it was a mess.

Regards
David R
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Every program eventually becomes rococo, and then rubble." - Alan Perlis
The only valid measurement of code quality: WTFs/minute.

PIEBALDconsult26-Jan-12 2:36

PIEBALDconsult

26-Jan-12 2:36

BobJanova wrote:
each developer to set his tab size

How? In Notepad or another text editor? In a terminus emulator? How about if I include a code snippet in a Word document? Or in a CP post?

TABs are evil and must be abolished.

BobJanova27-Jan-12 13:02

BobJanova

27-Jan-12 13:02

Any decent text editor (including IDEs) will let you set the display size of tabs. So will Word. Most web browsers will display tabs in a <pre> as 4 spaces or thereabouts which is what most people use for indentation anyway.

PIEBALDconsult27-Jan-12 16:03

PIEBALDconsult

27-Jan-12 16:03

BobJanova wrote:
Any decent text editor

I must not have any of those.

Plus, the worse problem is files with mixed TABs and SPACEs. Dead | X|

riced28-Jan-12 6:27

riced

28-Jan-12 6:27

Notepad++ is very good. Shows tabs, spaces, does column deletes and highlights matching brackets, braces, parens etc. Also has modes for different languages C#, C++, VB, Lisp etc.

And it's free. Smile | :)

icestatue23-Feb-12 3:14

icestatue

23-Feb-12 3:14

I agree most people don't use the View White Spaces option in edit and the readability of source code goes to hell when people are not maintaining a consistent spacing. There is also the benefit that using tabs also results in smaller files so there is less demand for storage for Source control history for files this way. In larger projects its noticeable.

nothing

gavindon1-Feb-12 10:51

gavindon

1-Feb-12 10:51

Robert Rohde wrote:
Its nothing that will get checked in in production code or anything like that.

Famous last words there...

Let's face it, after Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF!

Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.

You can't scare me, I have children.

killabyte25-Jan-12 14:29

killabyte

25-Jan-12 14:29

Robert Rohde wrote:

Directory.EnumerateFiles(args[0], "*.cs", SearchOption.AllDirectories).AsParallel().Select(f => new { File = f, Bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(f) }).Select(f => new { File = f.File, Bytes = f.Bytes, Encoding = f.Bytes.Take(3).SequenceEqual(new byte[] { 239, 187, 191 }) ? Encoding.UTF8 : Encoding.Default }).ForAll(f => File.WriteAllText(f.File, f.Encoding.GetString(f.Bytes).Split(new string[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.None).Select(l => new { Line = l, Index = l.Select((c, i) => new { Char = c, Index = i }).FirstOrDefault(c => c.Char != ' ' && c.Char != '\t') }).Select(l => l.Index == null ? l.Line : l.Line.Select((c, i) => (i < l.Index.Index && c == '\t') ? "    " : c.ToString()).Aggregate((s1, s2) => s1 + s2)).Aggregate((s1, s2) => s1 + Environment.NewLine + s2), f.Encoding));

did you honestly check in code like that ? if so WHY!?!

Robert Rohde25-Jan-12 17:52

25-Jan-12 17:52

From my other post[^]:

Quote:
The code was executed exactly one time (ignoring test runs) and will never be touched again. Its nothing that will get checked in in production code or anything like that.

killabyte27-Jan-12 9:46

killabyte

27-Jan-12 9:46

but why ever have it in that "minified" unreadable format?

Sander Rossel19-Mar-12 21:50

Sander Rossel

19-Mar-12 21:50

I love the smell of long and 'unreadable' LINQ queries in the morning! Big Grin | :-D

Actually I think the well formatted isn't THAT hard to read. I guess it depends on what you're used to.
Basically, a quick look at the (formatted) code tells me you enumerate through files, do this parallel, select some stuff, use this to make another selection, with this last selection you loop through all items in that collection and ok... It gets a bit fuzzy after that, but you end up selecting individual lines and even chars and putting them back together again.
That's probably more than I could tell from a quick look at any piece of 'normal' code.

The horror in such code lies not in readability (not using LINQ might stretch the code to twice or thrice its size and many 'normal' code is just as unreadable), the horror is in debugging these things! You can't make changes while running, you can't see the values of variables, you can't see the results of functions... It's a disaster!

That said, I wouldn't use it in production code, but as you mentioned, neither do you Smile | :)

It's an OO world.

public class Naerling : Lazy<Person>{
    public void DoWork(){ throw new NotImplementedException(); }
}

Robert Rohde22-Mar-12 2:07

Re: Goodbye version control

22-Mar-12 2:07

AHhhhhh, finally someone who feels with me and doesn't take it too serious.

Thanks Smile | :)

Goodbye version control

RobCroll20-Mar-12 12:07

RobCroll

20-Mar-12 12:07

Interesting, I actually prefer tabs.

I hope you're aware that this will totally stuff up all your source control. I'd branch the existing to maintain history and then you may as well throw away the old trunk and start again.

"You get that on the big jobs."

Robert Rohde22-Mar-12 2:11

Re: Goodbye version control

22-Mar-12 2:11

RobCroll wrote:
Interesting, I actually prefer tabs.

I would say 2 developers have at least 3 opinions on that topic Smile | :)

The screw up isn't that bad. At least not worse than before. Prior to our change the code gradually changed from tabs to spaces. Now we have one final commit which changes it all at once (about 1/3 of our codebase is affected). When viewing history, making diffs or merges we know the exact revision to exlude.

RobCroll22-Mar-12 12:36

RobCroll

22-Mar-12 12:36

Ok I get it. Better to totally stuff it up once and then exclude that revision than watch it slowly get worse and worse.

I remember the first time I bumped into this. Started work at a new place, committed some changes and about 10 minutes later, someone comes up and asks me to change options to tabs. 10 minutes!... damn code Nazis. Smile | :)

"You get that on the big jobs."

Logical AND with false...

Albert Holguin23-Jan-12 14:09

Albert Holguin

23-Jan-12 14:09

Didn't notice this little piece of code and it was making me think some sections worked completely different than they actually do.

C++

//C++
if(m_Config.m_isContinuous && false){ //<- should have probably payed closer attention to that...
   //A whole bunch of code that I thought was getting executed
}
else{
   //What's actually getting executed
}

Guess that was left like that for lack of time to clean up or something... but it shure led me astray... D'Oh! | :doh:

modified 24-Jan-12 11:04am.

ZurdoDev24-Jan-12 3:01

ZurdoDev

24-Jan-12 3:01

Faked left and went right.

PIEBALDconsult24-Jan-12 4:01

PIEBALDconsult

24-Jan-12 4:01

That's sort of a way to (temporarily) comment-out the then-section for testing. It probably shouldn't have made it to production.

Albert Holguin24-Jan-12 5:05

Albert Holguin

24-Jan-12 5:05

Like Ryan said above... it totally faked me out... Smile | :)

BobJanova24-Jan-12 9:55

BobJanova

24-Jan-12 9:55

Yeah, I've been known to do this at times, but I'd hope I'd never manage to check one in to source control!

cpkilekofp27-Jan-12 6:44

cpkilekofp

27-Jan-12 6:44

PIEBALDconsult wrote:

That's sort of a way to (temporarily) comment-out
the then-section for testing. It probably shouldn't have made it to
production.

It might actually be intended to stay in there until the developer's sure that the previous condition won't ever be used again...or the logic within the condition, which may be useful in a modified condition but might be difficult to remember. Sometimes it's easier to do that when you think your boss/customer/vendor has lost their mind than to trust that you'll remember exactly out of which source version you chopped it if you need it back NOW.

BillW3325-Jan-12 5:05

BillW33

25-Jan-12 5:05

Yeah, things like that have a nasty habit of sneaking in to check-ins then making it to production code. Sigh | :sigh:

Just because the code works, it doesn't mean that it is good code.