Indeed, it is very related. In that it's stupid. There's great value in debating which style is best, but once the pros and cons are weighed, there's far more benefit in everyone standardizing on the same thing than everyone going off and doing their own thing. That's all *IF* there is no real benefit in having multiple styles. I'll gladly go on record to say that there is absolutely no point whatsoever in having both tab-indent and space-indent around as styles. This isn't like, say, python vs. lisp, where for some jobs one is better, and for others, the other is better. No. Depending on your opinion on indents, either spacing is always better, or tabs are always better.
If that's how the style rule works, then the language should just pick one, enforce it, and thereby obliterate all pointless petty style fights, while in the process improving machine readability of your code. I never claimed that you should write code so machines can read it _in favour_ of humans. But let's get real for a moment, it's a programming language. If a machine couldn't read it, we've got a bit of a problem. Also, people WILL screw up, so when it happens, it would be nice if the machine can help us find our problem, and the only way to make that happen is for the machine to be good at extracting our intent from our broken code. Codifying more style rules means the machine will be better at it. Conclusion: If there's no good reason to give people choice in a style rule, then don't give them one. On Sep 20, 5:35 pm, Kevin Wright <kev.lee.wri...@gmail.com> wrote: > Just look into the variety of music > notation:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_notation > > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_notation>Believe me, there's a lot of > bickering over this. Should it be "classic european" or tablature style for > guitar, or maybe just chord names and a rhythm? > What about Jazz then, perhaps a chromatic stave is far more appropriate? > > Are the tenor and bassus signatures acceptable? If so, when? (they're > sometimes seen in vocal work) > Or byzantine/modal pieces, which don't fit cleanly with the modern > "tempered" scale > Speaking of which... there's also microtonality to consider, how is that > best written? > > This is *very* related to programmers' debates about spacing and tab > placement :) > > On 20 September 2010 15:14, Reinier Zwitserloot <reini...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > I have no idea how any of this is related to giving programmers the > > ability to bicker endlessly about pointless trivialities such as tabs. > > v spaces, and/or the strange notion that giving programmers the > > ability to louse up their indents is more important than generating > > useful and localized error messages when there are syntax errors. > > > On Sep 20, 3:21 pm, Josh Berry <tae...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 2:34 AM, Reinier Zwitserloot <reini...@gmail.com > > >wrote: > > > > > I don't think he invented it. For those who have an interest in it, a > > > > better alternative is, instead of declaring that you return "A", > > > > instead forget A and declare that you return "RuntimeException". Then, > > > > advise people to use: > > > > I think you misunderstood my post. I was not intending that he invented > > the > > > "sneaky" throws. I was using that as a great example of a "literate > > > program." Not only does it provide the functionality that the compiler > > > needs, but it does a very good job of presenting the subject to other > > > coders. Without having to rely on "compiler plugin magic happens here." > > > > And yes, I'll stand by my comparison of English/music to programming. > > You > > > twist my point into saying that "all programs should stand as a work of > > > art." I don't believe that any more than I believe that "all novels are > > > works of art." I contend that the best of each category likely fit that > > > bill. > > > > To follow your definition that programming is all about "how" to write > > > something. Have you not considered poetry? That is often specified down > > to > > > the number of syllables allowed. Does this make Haiku or other forms of > > > writing less expressive? Of course not. Not any more than a very > > skilled > > > Java programmer/writer can be expressive in Java. (Which is why I > > brought > > > up James' post.) > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "The Java Posse" group. > > To post to this group, send email to javapo...@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<javaposse%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > > .com> > > . > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en. > > -- > Kevin Wright > > mail / gtalk / msn : kev.lee.wri...@gmail.com > pulse / skype: kev.lee.wright > twitter: @thecoda -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to javapo...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
