Why Go gets criticized so much

Re:Why Go gets criticized so much by kazinator on Friday April 08, 2016 @11:56AM (#11455604)

I use both styles in the same code:

  if (simple_condition) {

  } else {

  }

  for (long and stuffed;
       expressions;
       here)
  {
  }

  if ((complicated ||
       multi_line)
      && condition)
  {
  }

  void function()
  {
  }

In an if, all the "else if" and "else" clauses have to follow the same style. If any is braced, they all have to be.

By the way, is grandparent kidding about Go enforcing this?

The only language I can think of which enforces curly brace placement is Awk. (And only in its pattern-action pairs):

   BEGIN {
     function()
     {
        if (foo)
        {
        }
     }
   }

   /regex/ {   # can't move this curly to next line
     action
   }

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why Go gets criticized so much by kazinator on Friday April 08, 2016 @12:10PM (#11455730)

RATIONALE: why the two styles? Why

  if (simple_condition) {
    code;
  }

but:

  if ((complicated ||
       multi_line)
      && condition)
  {
    code;
  }

Simple: it's because in both cases, the "code" follows a previous line from whose first non-whitespace character it indents by the indentation level:

  if (...
  [INDENT]code

  {
  [INDENT]code

This is just wacky:

  while (blah
         blah
         blah) {
    code
  }

"code" isn't "indenting off of" anything. It is not related to the indentation of "blah" in any way, but appears to be "deindenting" from it!

So, rather than dogmatically doing one thing or another, it's better to consider all the alternatives, their relative advantages and disadvantages, and integrate them into an elegant whole.

[ Parent | on HN ]