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Why you ALWAYS wanna use brackets

General and Gameplay Programming Programming

Started by owl May 15, 2011 02:49 AM

16 comments, last by ChaosEngine 12 years, 11 months ago

wqking

778

May 16, 2011 01:48 AM

I always use brackets for code blocks even if the block contains only one line code.



if(SomeCondition) {

  return;

}

This,
1, Less error prone.

2, Easy to add debug code.

For example, if SomeCondition is a function call or a complex expression, I want to see why it return true (because it should return false in normal process), then I can add one line before return temporarily,



if(SomeCondition) {

   SomeCondition;

  return;

}

Then I can set breakpoint there to repeat the condition to see what' s wrong.

3, AFAIR, sometime a return without brackets can't be breakpointed on some compiler and debuggers? Can't remember clearly though.

https://www.kbasm.com -- My personal website

https://github.com/wqking/eventpp eventpp -- C++ library for event dispatcher and callback list

https://github.com/cpgf/cpgf cpgf library -- free C++ open source library for reflection, serialization, script binding, callbacks, and meta data for OpenGL Box2D, SFML and Irrlicht.

21st Century Moose

13,459

May 16, 2011 10:36 AM

They're a good way of self-documenting code too; "yes, I know this looks weird, but check out my brackets - it's intentional". Likewise with parentheses even when operator precedence rules apply - you're hinting to the reader that this is the specific order you want things in.

Direct3D has need of instancing, but we do not. We have plenty of glVertexAttrib calls.

_moagstar_

465

May 16, 2011 11:25 AM

To make it worst, the function I was messing, besides being big, it was declared as void, so excepting for the missing semi-colon at a glance it was perfectly ok to have the return statement alone.

Huh?





int call_some_stuff()

{

    int wtf = 0;

    return wtf;

}



void do_stuff()

{

    int value1 = 1;

    int value2 = 2;



    if (value1 < value2)

        return



    call_some_stuff();

}

...

http://www.comeaucom...g.com/tryitout/

...





Comeau C/C++ 4.3.10.1 (Oct  6 2008 11:28:09) for ONLINE_EVALUATION_BETA2

Copyright 1988-2008 Comeau Computing.  All rights reserved.

MODE:strict errors C++ C++0x_extensions



"ComeauTest.c", line 14: error: return value type does not match the function type

      call_some_stuff();

      ^



1 error detected in the compilation of "ComeauTest.c".

The compiler would pick up that error for you. As examples go for why to use braces with if statements, I have to say this one is pretty lame.

Hodgman

52,717

May 16, 2011 12:07 PM

Man, I don't even get the joke. All I see is buggy code

Owl shoulda posted in the lounge...
Enter humorous parable:
Last night I got up during the night to get some water, but I didn't turn the light on and I stubbed my toe really bad and spilt water everywhere.
Enter serious replies:
> This isn't about not turning the light on, it's about not preparing a glass of water on your bedside table. I'm a huge advocate of thirst awareness.
>> Do you need information about light-switches? Generally the down position is on, whereas the up position is off. You may have been confused about that.
>>> I always pre-arrange my furniture to ensure a clean walking path between the bedroom and kitchen, thus avoiding any toe-stubbing events. I also love linoleum BTW. You should get some linoleum.

. 22 Racing Series .

Nitage

1,107

May 16, 2011 02:39 PM

Braces?

alvaro

21,604

May 16, 2011 03:13 PM

I don't get the humor or the point of this thread. My compiler and even my antiquated editor (emacs) would tell me if I made that mistake. My personal rule is to use curly brackets whenever they would enclose several lines of code, even if they are a single statement.