docs: hacking: explain why using curly braces well is important

* docs/hacking.html.in: Use the "curly braces" section from coreutils'
HACKING, adapting for libvirt's different formatting style.
* HACKING: Sync from the above, still mostly manually.
This commit is contained in:
Jim Meyering 2010-04-15 19:31:04 +02:00
parent eca81e08be
commit 44258473b8
2 changed files with 215 additions and 9 deletions

91
HACKING
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@ -105,6 +105,97 @@ Usually they're in macro definitions or strings, and should be converted
anyhow.
Curly braces
============
Omit the curly braces around an "if", "while", "for" etc. body only when that
body occupies a single line. In every other case we require the braces. This
ensures that it is trivially easy to identify a single-*statement* loop: each
has only one *line* in its body.
Omitting braces with a single-line body is fine:
while (expr) // one-line body -> omitting curly braces is ok
single_line_stmt ();
However, the moment your loop/if/else body extends onto a second line, for
whatever reason (even if it's just an added comment), then you should add
braces. Otherwise, it would be too easy to insert a statement just before that
comment (without adding braces), thinking it is already a multi-statement
loop:
while (true) // BAD! multi-line body with no braces
/* comment... */
single_line_stmt ();
Do this instead:
while (true) { // Always put braces around a multi-line body.
/* comment... */
single_line_stmt ();
}
There is one exception: when the second body line is not at the same
indentation level as the first body line:
if (expr)
die ("a diagnostic that would make this line"
" extend past the 80-column limit"));
It is safe to omit the braces in the code above, since the further-indented
second body line makes it obvious that this is still a single-statement body.
To reiterate, don't do this:
if (expr) // BAD: no braces around...
while (expr_2) { // ... a multi-line body
...
}
Do this, instead:
if (expr) {
while (expr_2) {
...
}
}
However, there is one exception in the other direction, when even a one-line
block should have braces. That occurs when that one-line, brace-less block is
an "else" block, and the corresponding "then" block *does* use braces. In that
case, either put braces around the "else" block, or negate the "if"-condition
and swap the bodies, putting the one-line block first and making the longer,
multi-line block be the "else" block.
if (expr) {
...
...
}
else
x = y; // BAD: braceless "else" with braced "then"
This is preferred, especially when the multi-line body is more than a few
lines long, because it is easier to read and grasp the semantics of an if-
then-else block when the simpler block occurs first, rather than after the
more involved block:
if (!expr)
x = y; // putting the smaller block first is more readable
else {
...
...
}
If you'd rather not negate the condition, then at least add braces:
if (expr) {
...
...
} else {
x = y;
}
Preprocessor
============
For variadic macros, stick with C99 syntax:

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@ -11,16 +11,15 @@
early and listen to feedback.</li>
<li><p>Post patches in unified diff format. A command similar to this
should work:</p>
should work:</p>
<pre>
diff -urp libvirt.orig/ libvirt.modified/ &gt; libvirt-myfeature.patch
</pre>
diff -urp libvirt.orig/ libvirt.modified/ &gt; libvirt-myfeature.patch</pre>
<p>
or:
</p>
<pre>
git diff > libvirt-myfeature.patch
</pre></li>
git diff > libvirt-myfeature.patch</pre>
</li>
<li>Split large changes into a series of smaller patches, self-contained
if possible, with an explanation of each patch and an explanation of how
the sequence of patches fits together.</li>
@ -29,16 +28,14 @@
<li><p>Run the automated tests on your code before submitting any changes.
In particular, configure with compile warnings set to -Werror:</p>
<pre>
./configure --enable-compile-warnings=error
</pre>
./configure --enable-compile-warnings=error</pre>
<p>
and run the tests:
</p>
<pre>
make check
make syntax-check
make -C tests valgrind
</pre>
make -C tests valgrind</pre>
<p>
The latter test checks for memory leaks.
</p>
@ -60,6 +57,7 @@
<pre>
./qemuxml2xmltest</pre>
</li>
<li>Update tests and/or documentation, particularly if you are adding
a new feature or changing the output of a program.</li>
</ol>
@ -124,6 +122,123 @@
</p>
<h2><a name="curly_braces">Curly braces</a></h2>
<p>
Omit the curly braces around an "if", "while", "for" etc. body only
when that body occupies a single line. In every other case we require
the braces. This ensures that it is trivially easy to identify a
single-*statement* loop: each has only one *line* in its body.
</p>
<p>
Omitting braces with a single-line body is fine:
</p>
<pre>
while (expr) // one-line body -> omitting curly braces is ok
single_line_stmt ();</pre>
<p>
However, the moment your loop/if/else body extends onto a second
line, for whatever reason (even if it's just an added comment), then
you should add braces. Otherwise, it would be too easy to insert a
statement just before that comment (without adding braces), thinking
it is already a multi-statement loop:
</p>
<pre>
while (true) // BAD! multi-line body with no braces
/* comment... */
single_line_stmt ();</pre>
<p>
Do this instead:
</p>
<pre>
while (true) { // Always put braces around a multi-line body.
/* comment... */
single_line_stmt ();
}</pre>
<p>
There is one exception: when the second body line is not at the same
indentation level as the first body line:
</p>
<pre>
if (expr)
die ("a diagnostic that would make this line"
" extend past the 80-column limit"));</pre>
<p>
It is safe to omit the braces in the code above, since the
further-indented second body line makes it obvious that this is still
a single-statement body.
</p>
<p>
To reiterate, don't do this:
</p>
<pre>
if (expr) // BAD: no braces around...
while (expr_2) { // ... a multi-line body
...
}</pre>
<p>
Do this, instead:
</p>
<pre>
if (expr) {
while (expr_2) {
...
}
}</pre>
<p>
However, there is one exception in the other direction, when even a
one-line block should have braces. That occurs when that one-line,
brace-less block is an "else" block, and the corresponding "then" block
*does* use braces. In that case, either put braces around the "else"
block, or negate the "if"-condition and swap the bodies, putting the
one-line block first and making the longer, multi-line block be the
"else" block.
</p>
<pre>
if (expr) {
...
...
}
else
x = y; // BAD: braceless "else" with braced "then"</pre>
<p>
This is preferred, especially when the multi-line body is more than a
few lines long, because it is easier to read and grasp the semantics of
an if-then-else block when the simpler block occurs first, rather than
after the more involved block:
</p>
<pre>
if (!expr)
x = y; // putting the smaller block first is more readable
else {
...
...
}</pre>
<p>
If you'd rather not negate the condition, then at least add braces:
</p>
<pre>
if (expr) {
...
...
} else {
x = y;
}</pre>
<h2><a href="types">Preprocessor</a></h2>
<p>