GOOD PROGRAMMING PRACTICE: VERSION 1.1

Introduction

Terminating statements

int main(void)
{
        /* no semi-colon! expect an error! */
        printf("Hello World!\n")
        return(0);
}

You'd be surprised how many people make this mistake. Sure, that's a small program... but wait 'till you write code that's 1000 lines in length! You can bet that you missed out a semi-colon somewhere! To help you remember the semi-colon, think of it as a period when you write a sentence in English. Make it a habit.

Now the other thing about semi-colons is that some people aren't sure where to put them, so they put them everywhere. Bad idea. Now some of you experienced programmers are probably laughing, but I've seen this happen in the school I go to. People sending emails wondering why their program doesn't work, and it's all thanks to the semi-colon. An example of this:

/* semi-colon after main() is wrong: */
int main(int argc, char *argv[]);
{
        printf("Hello World");
        return(0);
}

You do not put a semi-colon when you're starting the block of a function or method, or procedure. This is wrong.

White Space

int main(void){printf("HelloWorld");return(0);}

How's that for conciseness? Obviously the above is a little exagerated, but you'll most commonly come across code like the following:

if(x==0) {a=b=c=d=MAX; x++;}

Yes it saves space, but it's damn confusing for anyone who looks at your code, and for you when you look at it one month later. Write it the right and clean way!

if(x == 0)
{
        a = b = c = d = MAX;
        x++;
}

See how much better it is? White space was meant to make code look clear. The computer doesn't care about white space because it can't read your code. People need white space to read your code.

Braces and Blocks

int main()
{
        int x = 1;
        int y = 10;
        while(x < y ){
                printf("Value of x is %d\n", x);
                x++;
        }
}

This is how a lot of C programmers write their code. Some programmers prefer to do their braces this way:

int main()
{
        int x = 1;
        int y = 10;
        while(x < y)
        {
                printf("Value of x is %d\n", x);
                x++;
        }
}

I prefer the latter method because I can see where the block starts and ends clearly. The K & R programmers will of course tend to disagree. The only solution to this is to get used to both styles of indenting, but when writing a program, be consistent with what you use. If you use K & R, then use K & R for the program. Don't suddenly change it halfway through.

Abusing "if"

if(a == 0)
{
        a++;
        return(a);
}
if(a == 1)
{
        a += 5;
        return(a);
}
if(a == 2)
{
        a += 10;
        return(a);
}
if(a == 3)
{
        a += 20;
        return(a);
}
if(a == 4)
        exit(1);