Poll: Spaces in if statements | Hacker News Reader

Poll: Spaces in if statements

15 pointsjamesjyu31 comments

Do you put spaces between the "if" and parenthesis in if statements? For example:

  if (test)

  if(test)

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In C, 'if' is a keyword and a space always follows a keyword.

No.

That's how I do things (unless a semicolon follows the keyword, as in `return;`).

Exception: `typeof` in C# (`typeof(Object)`, for example).

I personally prefer

    if( test )

This is my personal preference too. I like that the condition is visually separated from the wrapping. I'm also prone to borderline-too-complex conditions, and this syntax makes those easier to focus on.

Do you also write that way ( if you know what I mean ).

With occasionally obtuse syntax: yes; with bonus space parentheticals: no (see?).

Most non-code writing is going to be read linearly, rarely more than onc. Parentheticals in a reading context are secondary, not deserving of additional emphasis that they get in code.

Ugh... This is the type of thing I love about languages like ruby and python, this kind of crap debate doesn't matter, there is really pretty much one way to write it.

Braced languages annoy me because every developer seems to have their own "special" brand of stupid formatting. Some perfect examples of this thinking are right here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#Horstmann_style

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#Whitesmiths_style

Think about basic writing people. Would you decide not to put a space before a parenthetic statement(obviously not)? Or like one comment suggested, you would never put a space after the opening or before the end ( unless you are just being ironic ).

It doesn't matter how you think it looks, it matters that you are trying to be different for the sake of being different. Stop it.

I tend to worry about whitespaces in/around if statements only when the condition is complex. SO I tend to have "if(a==b)", but maybe "if( (a==b) && (c==d) )" and may have space between the 'if' and opening parenthesis when the condition is so complex to be multi-line (but then again, at that point a refactoring is needed/natural)

I don't recall which I do, but I do know that I use less space in general nowadays than I did before syntax highlighting was basically everywhere. Anyone else change their style due to syntax highlighting?

Yes. I leave out parens whenever I can because position, spacing and syntax highlighting makes code quite clear.

So I really prefer, for example,

    if have_taste?
       ...

    unless stuff =~ some_regex
      ...

Yes... BSD style FTW (aside from hard tabs I suppose) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#BSD_KNF_style

Hell no... looking at code formatted like that makes my eyeballs bleed and leaves me huddled in a corner, with a ghastly, haunted look in my eye, as I mutter shit like "Ȋa! Ȋa! Cthȕlhu fhtagn. H'nglȕi mglw'nafh Cthȕlhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtan!!" while some eldritch, unspeakable substance oozes down the wall...

I'm surprised so many people like spaces. I was under the impression that most people didn't use a space.

And one of the earlier C style guides I was exposed to. http://www.psgd.org/paul/docs/cstyle/cstyle.htm

How much does this really matter? I suppose I usually use spaces, but to be honest, this isn't something I notice.

Yes, my team uses this style. Coding style is a matter of choice, and we should adapt to the style of our peers.

Yes, but only recently. It's a bad habit I'm trying to break. Like others have stated, it's a keyword.

Only n00bs use if statements. :-p

i do it like this:

if( test == true ) {}

in python:

if test:

Definitely put spaces

if ( spaces ) {

  more readable code;

}

if( test ){

if test

Hm, I think you forgot a colon.

Most polite exception message ever.

ruby or coffeescript

   true if true

function(...)

conditional (...)

And do you also add the space before the paren when you declare a function? I ask because a conditional block is often closer syntactically to a function definition than it is to a function invocation, yet I hardly ever see anyone put a space before the paren when defining a function.

I'm guessing here, but I suspect functional comes from maths notation where there typically is no space between the function name and the paren.

    y = f(x)

I don't see that there is any relationship between a function declaration and a conditional followed by a statement block. There is no reason to use different formatting for function declaration versus invocation.

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