Elliott Back's Blog - Latest Comments in Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

Re: Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

Dave — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:55:15 -0000

Un-cuddled is easier to spot when quick-scanning unfamiliar code, for instance to distinguish from an elsif. And it's the same amount of text space - a bit more screen space, but sometimes that's a good thing.

Re: Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

farker — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 08:40:05 -0000

I think there are more important things to worry about, you anal twats.

Re: Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

binner — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:47:51 -0000

I think there are more important things to worry about, you anal twats.

Re: Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

fasdf — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:36:39 -0000

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Re: Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

Will — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:48:23 -0000

I cuddle as well, but it really does look more readable without cuddling.

Re: Perl Style: The If / Else Statement — Elliott C. Back

Brandon — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 23:31:25 -0000

I have to agree with the book's author. In my opinion, "cuddling" an else hurts readability, although I'll admit I'm rather anal when it comes to coding style. I find it far easier to be able to look straight down the column and find my if, elseif, else statements all lined up. Sure, it takes up a little extra space, but the difference is negligible.

A person's coding style should cater toward ease of readability for other people, not the compiler. The compiler doesn't care if your else's are cuddled or not; in fact in many lanuages you could write your entire script on a single line and the compiler won't mind one bit. But I can guarantee that the programmer who comes in behind you and has to maintain your code will have a thing or two to say about it.