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Tom Potts wrote: > On Saturday 03 February 2007 21:46, Simon Williams wrote: >> Benjamin A'Lee wrote: >>> On Sat, Feb 03, 2007 at 08:27:19PM +0000, Simon Williams wrote: >>>> I'm now doing java in my computer science course. Much to my irratation, >>>> I have discovered that java is poorly designed language which makes all >>>> code indented by an extra level because of the class definitions. > The Java compiler does not insist on any indentations - thats someones idea of > 'proper style' which is frankly useless if you have to write anything of any > complexity. Could you elaborate on that? I'd have thought that a sensible coding style would be more important when coding something complex. > Coding 'Styles' are meant to make the code more readable but if > the text is seven feet to the right then theres something wrong - try to > refactor but it can be the style thats 'at fault'. To quote Torvalds from the linux kernel coding standards: "if you need more than 3 levels of indentation, you're screwed anyway, and should fix your program." >>> Why not just not bother indenting after the class definition? >> That's probably what I'll do if I ever use java for anything else. >> Unfortunately the style rules for this are no hard tabs, indents must be >> consistent and 4 spaces or less. >> >> For the purposes of arguing my case: >> Am I right in thinking that the class definition will usually (or even >> always) span the whole file, even in very large programs? > you can have many classes in a file if you want > I'd suggest using a different editor (emacs?) I wouldn't touch emacs with a barge pole, but I think we should avoid flaming on that one. > or even IDE like netbeans - well cool! I don't like IDE's. If I found I needed one I might look at the possibility, but at the moment I'm much happier with command line tools. > Vims good if you have to use a simple monitor and its good to know how > to use it If you're only dealing with text then you don't need a gui. I also really don't like all this clicking that can be done better with key commands. > but its a bit hair shirt for a college course! Why? > Whatever it is tho find an editor your happy with and then use sed or > something to process the files to whatever standard your tutor/college > requires. Indent is useful (once it is given some sane options). -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html