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RE: [Devel] comment formatting - unneeded slashes and asterisks consider


From: Graham Asher
Subject: RE: [Devel] comment formatting - unneeded slashes and asterisks considered harmful
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 12:13:12 +0100

Werner,

it was interesting to get your reply, and I am now coming to realise that
there is no meeting of minds, unfortunately. It's your project, not mine, so
you make the rules. But when I see something that could in my opinion be
made better, and made easier for everybody who contributes to the
enterprise, naturally I try to argue my case.

The point I should make again, shouting it from the rooftops if possible, is
that unlike most people, who argue for their own particular style, I am NOT
doing that, but asking for a relaxation in the rules - a liberalisation of
an over-dirigiste framework, if you like. Dirigsime has a cost in
enforcement that should not outweigh the benefits. Here, I think it is clear
that the cost outweighs the benefits and some more freedom is called for.

<<<<<<
The price is minimal since you get used to it quickly if you want to.
>>>>>>

That is a matter of opinion. It's always possible to get used to any number
of rules - but is it desirable?

<<<<<<
Sorry to say, but I don't get your point why you oppose so strongly.
>>>>>>

I come from a tradition of liberalism in the 19th-century sense. Rules are
necessary, but there should be as few as possible, and those that exist
should allow as much freedom as possible. I need room to move my elbows, as
long as they don't dig into other people ;-)

<<<<<<
My background is typography, and for well written books a consistent
grayness (i.e., the relation between black and white within
paragraphs) of a page makes reading most comfortable, and having
consistently formatted C code is exactly that.  It makes the eye
relieve, and you can concentrate on more important things.
>>>>>>

My background is also typography. I spent 6 years writing a typesetting
system for academic publishing. Books are one thing - they are finished and
ready for the public - and fixed in paper. An open-source software
work-in-progress is another species of animal entirely, as witness the fact
the most programmers, including myself, display their source in a single
font and typeface size, the only concession to typographic niceties being
the automatic syntax colouring.

Another thing that typography taught me is that ruled lines - for which the
equivalent in a computer program is a line of asterisks - should be used
very sparing if at all.

I have been influenced - hasn't everybody? - by Knuth's work on literate
programming. He emphasizes the advantages of comments that are clearly
written in entire grammatical sentences. Doing this is much easier when you
don't have to remember to put an
asterisk at the start of every line. And, no, I don't want to change to an
editor that can do that unwanted job for me.

<<<<<<
Apparently, you have a different cultural background.  David's
preference is deeply rooted in good French typography which writes
direct speech like this:

  He said: « Bla bla bla
  « blabla blabla blabla
  « bla blablabla blabla
  « blablabla blabla bla
  « bla bla. »
>>>>>>

Isn't that rather old-fashioned, by the way? The only example of French
typography I can find quickly on my bookshelf is Antoine-Marie Graziani's
biographi of Pascal Paoli, which uses guillemets, but doesn't repeat them at
the start of each line. You may be interested to know that English
typography used to repeat the inverted commas at the start of each line up
to the early 19th century. But... times have moved on, and a computer
program is not a book.

<<<<<<
It costs way too much time to discuss the pros and cons about
consistency, and I won't continue here.
>>>>>>

Fair enough - let's desist.

<<<<<<
Please contribute code which
looks similar to the code which is already there.
>>>>>>

I hope you can see that I am trying to do that, as best I can. Any
inconsistencies are accidental, or the result of me misunderstanding the
rules.

Best regards,

Graham






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