Scilab Bag Of Tricks: The Scilab-2.5.x IAQ (Infrequently Asked Questions) | ||
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Prev | Chapter 3. Programming Style | Next |
Heavy indentation does not hurt! No, in fact it is a great help in finding out the control flow quickly. Let us start with a good example this time, Example 3-1.
Example 3-1. Function whocat
function s = whocat(cat) // return all local variables, functions, // etc. that are in category cat. s = []; nl = who('local'); for i = 1:size(nl, 1) execstr( 'typ=type(' + nl(i) + ')' ); if typ == cat then s = [s; nl(i)]; end end
The for loop, and the if branch are immediately recognizable.
There are blank lines between the logical blocks of the function. They too aid the reader's comprehension of whocat's inner workings. As a rule of thumb lines of code that achieve a sub-goal of the computation should be grouped together as sentences are grouped in a paragraph.
In longer functions the indentation becomes essential for the orientation of the maintainer. Here is a excerpt of a longer function, that would be terribly hard to understand if not massively indented.
i = 1; j = 1; while i <= n1 & j <= n2 while i <= n1 & j <= n2 if ~equ(lst1(i), lst2(j)), break, end i = i + 1; j = j + 1; end if i >= n1 | j >= n2, break, end icurs = i; while icurs <= min(n1, i+fuzz) if equ(lst1(icurs), lst2(j)), break, end icurs = icurs + 1; end if icurs <= n1 then if equ(lst1(icurs), lst2(j)) then // record element(s) missing from lst1 for p = i : icurs-1 this_diff = [lst1(p), string(-p)]; diff = [diff; this_diff]; end // re-sync i = icurs; end end ... end // while
The complete listing of this function can be found in Chapter 10.
The last example also shows that we are switching between several style paradigms:
Neither the "One statement per line" rule is followed consistently,
if equ(lst1(icurs), lst2(j)), break, end
could be
if equ( lst1(icurs), lst2(j) ) then break end
Nor is the intra-line spacing always consistent with the guidelines presented here:
for p = i : icurs-1
could be
for p = i:icurs-1
The Golden Rule is that there are no golden rules... This is best known under the term "freedom".