Re^2: What is code readability?

[BrowserUk]

It was pointed out to me by /msg that in my "How many arguments?" example above, I made two changes between the two examples, and it was postulated that only one of these, the additional whitespace, contributed to whatever extra clarity was evident.

By way of further investigation, in which of the following is the number of parameters clearest to your eyes?

• someFunction( someVariable, someOtherVariable, andYetAnotherVariable, andOneMoreFor, luck )
• some_function (some_variable,some_other_variable,and_yet_another_variable,and_one_more_for,luck)
• someFunction (someVariable,someOtherVariable,andYetAnotherVariable,andOneMoreFor,luck)
• some_function( some_variable, some_other_variable, and_yet_another_variable, and_one_more_for, luck )

[itub]

The last one, definitely. :-)

[parv]

1st & 4th, my favourite one BTW, are much easier on the eyes.

There is one more variation ...

some_function
(
  some_variable , some_other_variable , and_yet_another_variable
, and_one_more_for , luck
)

[BrowserUk]

Ug :) I really hate that. I see no benefit in spaces both sides of the commas, or breaking the open paren away from the function name. And if you have to break the params across lines, at least balance their lengths :)

some_function(
    some_variable, some_other_variable, 
    and_yet_another_variable, and_one_more_for, luck
);

That's not so bad for simple (void) calls as, but when you're retrieving data and checking you get something like

if( some_return_value = some_function( 
    some_variable, some_other_variable, 
    and_yet_another_variable, and_one_more_for, 
    luck ) ) {
    // do some stuff here with some_return_value 
} else {
   // report or otherwise handle the error 
}

It's just a mess.The best I've come up with for this is

if( 
    some_return_value = some_function( 
        some_variable, some_other_variable, 
        and_yet_another_variable, and_one_more_for, luck 
    )
) {
    // do some stuff here with some_return_value 
} 
else {
   // report or otherwise handle the error 
}

Which ain't great, but is better than most alternatives to my eyes.

And much better still is

if( someRv = fSome( some, oSome, AYAnother, OneMoreFor, luck )) {
    // do some stuff here with someRv 
} 
else {
   // report or otherwise handle the error 
}

With the point being that whilst ths abbreviated variable names don't immediately make much sense, by the time a programmer has got familiar enough with the code to consider making changes, they will.

[wfsp]

Even more vertical.

And you're always going to get all those args in the right order? I know I wouldn't.

# round em up...
my $args = { # no need to worry about the order
  arg1 => $some_variable, 
  arg2 => $some_other_variable, 
  arg3 => $and_yet_another_variable, 
  arg4 => $and_one_more_for,
  arg5 => $luck,
  arg6 => some_other_function(),
  arg7 => $maybe_a_variable or $default,
};

# ...and herd em in
my $some_return_value = some_function($args);

if($some_return_value) {
    # do some stuff here with some_return_value 
    # and if there are more than a few lines
    # I'd consider another sub
} 
else { # and don't cuddle your else
   # report or otherwise handle the error 
   # in another sub :-)
}

sub some_function {
  my ($args) = @_;
  # no need to worry about the order here either
}

I should point out I'm presently having terrible trouble debugging an app (that I'm writing). It gets more vertical by the day! :-)

[Anonymous Monk]

if( 
    some_return_value = some_function( 
        some_variable, some_other_variable, 
        and_yet_another_variable, and_one_more_for, luck 
    )
) {
    // do some stuff here with some_return_value 
} 
else {
   // report or otherwise handle the error 
}

My take on it is pretty close, I just see OK to open more than one paren in a line (and hence close them all in the same line):

if (some_return_value = some_function (
    some_variable, some_other_variable,
    and_yet_another_variable, and_one_more_for, luck
)) {
    // do some stuff here with some_return_value 
} else {
   // report or otherwise handle the error 
}

[jdporter]

There is one more variation

Only one?

some_function
(
    some_variable            ,
    some_other_variable      ,
    and_yet_another_variable ,
    and_one_more_for         ,
    luck                     ,
)


some_function
(
    some_variable
,
    some_other_variable
,
    and_yet_another_variable
,
    and_one_more_for
,
    luck
)

[parv]

Of course; I did not claim the posted version as "'only|sole|last' one variation" (but "a variation").

Problem with your first variation -- for that matter, any other code in which things are aligned along the columns -- is that aligning commas for short varaibles like "luck" is too much effort. (Second one is just ridiculous overkill.)

(I was hoping not to contribute anything (as I do not have much to say about brain d foy's points) but I was suckered in anyway.)

[Anonymous Monk]

some_function(some_variable, 
              some_other_variable, 
              and_yet_another_variable,
              and_one_more_for, 
              luck);

...getting better...

some_function( filename  => $some_variable,
               address   => $some_other_variable,
               amount    => $and_yet_another_variable,
               phone_num => $and_one_more_for, 
               diameter  => $luck );

[runrig]

And that bites when you want to cut the first or last, or paste another first or last, argument. I prefer the args on separate lines, and indenting a normal (4 or whatever the standard) number of spaces.