Clean Code – Chapter 5 Formatting

• The Purpose of Formatting

  Code formatting is about communication, and communication is the professional developer's first order of business.

• Vertical Formatting

  File size: less than 200~500 lines.

  • The Newspaper Metaphor

    We would like a source file to be like a newspaper article. The name should be simple but explanatory. The topmost parts of the source file should provide the high-level concepts and algorithms. Details should increase as we move downward, until at the end we find the lowest level functions and details in the source file.

  • Vertical Openness Between Concepts

    Each line represents an expression or a clause, and each group of lines represents a complete thought. Those thoughts should be separated from each other with blank lines.

    Each blank line is a visual cue that identifies a new and separate concept.

  • Vertical Density

    Lines of code that are tightly related should appear vertically dense.

  • Vertical Distance

    Concepts that are closely related should be kept vertically close to each other.

    • Variable Declarations

      Variables should be declared as close to their usage as possible.

    • Instance variables

      Should be declared at the top of the class.

    • Dependent Functions

      If one function calls another, they should be vertically close, and the caller should be above the callee, if at all possible.

    • Conceptual Affinity

      • a direct dependence
      • a similar operation

• Horizontal Formatting

  Line width: less than 100~120.

  • Horizontal Openness and Density

    Use horizontal white space to disassociate things that are weakly related.

    e.g.

    public class Quadratic {
        public static double root1(double a, double b, double c) {
            double determinant = determinant(a, b, c);
            return (-b + Math.sqrt(determinant)) / (2*a);
        }
    
        public static double root2(double a, double b, double c) {
            double determinant = determinant(a, b, c);
            return (-b - Math.sqrt(determinant)) / (2*a);
        }
    
        private static double determinant(double a, double b, double c) {
            return b*b - 4*a*c;
        }
    }

    这里的行间空白主要体现在：

    • 赋值号 = 左右空格以突出赋值操作
    • 函数各参数之间空格分隔
    • 函数名与其后面的左括号不需要空格
    • 各种运算符左右空格以突出对应的操作

      上面代码有个特例就是乘号左右没有空白分隔。按照作者的解释，“它们属于较高优先级(high precedence)”。 这么写公式的逻辑看起来确实更清晰一些。可惜 Visual Studio 的格式化代码没有这么智能。

  • Horizontal Alignment

    No need. (used in assembly files)

  • Indentation

    To make the hierarchy of scopes visible.

  • Dummy Scopes

    Try to avoid them.

    Make sure that the dummy body is properly indented and surrounded by braces.

    Bad code:

    while (dis.read(buf, 0, readBufferSize) != -1)
        ;

    Good code:

    while (dis.read(buf, 0, readBufferSize) != -1)
    {
        ;
    }

• Team Rules

  Every programmer has his own favorite formatting rules, but if he works in a team, then the team rules.