Condesing your Code

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ID:1265750
 
May 16 2013, 7:16 am

Poll: Is it worth the trouble to condense your codes?

Yes 38% (8)
No 61% (13)

Login to vote.

What's up, BYOND!

I personally don't like to condense my codes because the readability of it goes down and I tend to have a hard time pinpointing bugs, etc.

Feel free to write the reason why you do or don't condense your code!
May 16 2013, 7:20 am
It depends.
//  Don't condense something like this
if(a)
    b = c
    do_stuff()
    blah_blah()

// into this
if(a){b=c;do_stuff();blah_blah()}

//  Do condense stuff like this
if(a == 1)
    b = 1
else if(a == 2)
    b = 2
else if(a == 3)
    b = 3

// into this
b = a


//  Basically, don't copy/paste when you can just use a proc or a formula.
// But inside those basic algorithms, no condensing should be necessary.
May 16 2013, 7:47 am
It's all about preference.
May 16 2013, 10:15 am
If we're talking purely stylistically, I dunno why you would. It seems in most regards counter-productive, for the reasons you've stated. Harms readability, makes maintenance and debugging a bit trickier because of it, etc.
May 16 2013, 10:57 am
When we talk condensing, are we talking,

mob
  proc
    ProcName(arg1)
      if(arg1)
        //do stuff
        return
      // Skipping the else
      // do stuff
      return

// or

mob
  proc
    ProcName(arg1)
      if(arg1) // stuff
      else // Other stuff
May 16 2013, 11:17 am
Kaiochao pretty much hit the nail on the head with his examples, thanks. I was also told that some people condense for shorter compile times? Is there any truth to this?
May 16 2013, 11:19 am
In response to Chickenlegs
Not really, no. Condensing your code almost never matters in languages that gets compiled down to machine/byte-code and thrown in a binary. The only time condensing especially matters (though you'd use a tool to do this during deployment, rather than condensing it as you write it) is in the case of web programming, such as JavaScript. Helps cut down on page load times and bandwidth usage.
May 16 2013, 11:20 am
Alright then, thanks for all of your inputs! :-)
May 24 2013, 4:21 am
I condense my code once I've actually finished tinkering with it. Other than that, while I'm debugging and working on it, I keep everything nice and spaced out. I honestly don't mind if I do have to pick back through condensed code, however. I can read it just fine because I keep my code well documented and know what's going on where.
May 24 2013, 5:02 am
Why do you do that?
May 24 2013, 5:30 am
Personal preference. It might not be logical to you, but it works wonderfully for me.
May 24 2013, 5:31 am
Well no, quite. It's also not logical to the software community at large though, which is a bit more concerning perhaps.
May 24 2013, 5:39 am
I was meaning particularly for DM, though. When working with C++, I stick with a more standard format.
May 24 2013, 5:41 am
Got an example of what you mean by 'condense' for DM, out of curiosity? Maybe what I'm thinking, and what you're doing, are two quite different things. P:
May 24 2013, 5:48 am
 
getTarget()
   set hidden=1
   var/active/zombie/closest
   for(var/active/zombie/z in ohearers(8))
      if(!closest)
         closest=z
         continue
      if(dist(z)<dist(closest))
         closest=z
   setTarget(closest)
cycleTargets()
   set hidden=1
   if(!target)
      for(var/active/zombie/z in ohearers(8))
         setTarget(z)
         return
      var/found=0
      for(var/active/zombie/z in ohearers(8))
      if(found)
         setTarget(z)
         return
      if(z==target)
         found=1
         continue
      setTarget(null)


Basically I just mean removing all of the white space.
May 24 2013, 6:29 am
Oh. Dunno why you'd do that per-say ... what is the benefit, to you?
May 24 2013, 6:54 am
OCD.
May 24 2013, 7:42 am
Ah well, mental disorders are a whole issue of their own. P:
May 24 2013, 7:53 am
In response to Solomn Architect
If you really wanted all whitespace gone, you'd use a slash after "set" instead of a space, and not use newlines or indentation (which is off in your code, by the way).
May 24 2013, 7:59 am
That's because when I copied it, I wasn't paying attention to correcting the indentation. It's perfectly fine in the actual source file. I haven't worked on it in some months, however.
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