Subj : Re: Syntax, style, the infinite monkey theorum and coding
To   : comp.programming
From : Mike
Date : Tue Aug 23 2005 12:23 pm

In article <MPG.1d73bc676d14a6b298a472@news.indigo.ie>, gerryq@DELETETHISindigo.ie says...
> In article <1124699428.796351.185650@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, 
> gswork@mailcity.com says...
> > Ed Prochak wrote:
> > > gsw...@mailcity.com wrote:
> 
> > > how about a C program with a seven page while() loop where the
> > > condition on the while() loop was seven full lines long (where full
> > > means about 70characters per line, not counting whitespace)? Sorry I
> > > don't have the code available. That was at a job nearly twenty years
> > > ago. It was written by a contractor that the company respected and was
> > > considered a great programmer. Needless to say I did not share that
> > > opinion when I was assigned to maintain and debug this beast.
> > 
> > I like the idea that a condition can be seven lines long!  Now that's a
> > condition!
> 
> I can imagine that being a viable style in some cases, i.e. where there 
> are several independent conditions that break the loop and each needs a 
> comment:
> 
> while( 	condition1		// comment
> 		&& condition2	// comment 
> 		&& condition3	// comment 
> 		)
> {
> 	// do stuff
> }
> 
> It's the multi-page block that seems more problematic.
> 
> - Gerry Quinn
> 
My preferred style would be something like...

function Peculiar_Conditions(some arguements) : boolean;
begin
  result := condition1			//comment
	     and condition2 			//comment
	     and condition3; 		//comment
end;

....

while Peculiar_Conditions(some arguements) do
begin
  do stuff
end;

Thus separating out the conditional logic from the rest of the program flow.
 
Mike

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