Code Craft

Get Thinking

A detailed discussion of these questions can be found in the "Appendix A" section on page 466.

Mull It Over

1. Should you alter the layout of legacy code to conform to your latest code style? Is this a valuable use of code reformatting tools?

2. A common layout convention is to split source lines at a set number of columns. What are the pros and cons of this? Is it useful?

3. How detailed should a reasonable coding standard be?

   1. How serious are deviations from the style? How many limbs should be amputated for not following it?

   2. Can a standard become too detailed and restrictive? What would happen if it did?

4. When defining a new presentation style, how many items or cases need layout rules? What other presentation rules must be provided? List them.