[Zope3-dev] RFC: Guide for maintaining software in the Zope repository

[Andreas Jung]

--On 24. August 2007 19:55:35 +0200 Dieter Maurer <dieter at handshake.de> 
wrote:

> Andreas Jung wrote at 2007-8-24 19:35 +0200:
>> ...
>> Whitespace rules have a major impact on the readability of code.
>> Readability is a major point when we talk of code quality. Readable code
>> does not make code automatically but good code has to be readable.
>
> Lots of whitespace does not make the code more readable for all
> persons -- it does not for me, for example.
>
> Other rules are more important:
>
>   *  use speaking names
>
>   *  ensure that a "unit" (e.g. a function definition) can been seen in
> its      whole
>
>   *  carefully document complex operations
>
>   *  combine a general overview with detailed source documentation.

ACK on everything of that. But reading code comes before understanding code.
And the visual impression of code has a strong impact on how we read code 
and on how we understand code. Rules (written or unwritten) exist to 
organize a certain aspect in life, work etc. Rules are (usually) made to 
satisfy the needs of a majority. If we organize code in a common repository 
then the code styles  (or call them rules) tell the individual programmer 
how most programmers would expect how good code should like. When we write 
code and check it into a public repository the code was written to solve a 
particular problem but it has to follow the most basic rules that are set 
by the developers community as a whole. There is always place for personal 
preferences however there is some border..

Bringing it back to the point: Understanding matters, reading comes before 
understanding so rules about whitespaces, # of statements per line etc.
really matters.

-aj
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