Yeah, you save one character per line, and gain a lot more in cognitive friction. Words to live by: "don't make me think" even about whether or not I need a semi-colon here.
The guide doesn't have anything about brackets and spacing on function calls (maybe because it's dropping the language).
Once you get into the habit, it requires zero extra effort. You just know when to put them in, same way you just know when to use parens vs curlies.
Coding with semis is like coding with parens around every expression; unnecessary and paranoid.
> Coding with semis is like coding with parens around every expression;
> unnecessary and paranoid.
I think in general the answer may be to use the style that mimics the other code in the application. Rubyists may prefer the newline endings; those using Java or PHP may find having the semi-colon more comfortable. Having less contextual switch between languages may be easier.
Such a sweeping statement seemed a bit ridiculous. Choosing to interpret it in a broader context was intended to highlight my opinion of the original statement.
EDIT: It's been fun watching the mod of the GP go up and down ... zero, back to one, then to zero ... over and over.
He said that there were no problems.
No problems doesn't imply no benefits.
I guess I've never understood the argument for omitting them. It seems like an unnecessary trick. Coding guidelines should enforce the simplest possible patterns and techniques.