Re: Proper code formatting

George Larson wrote: > On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 8:23 AM, Shawn McKenzie <nospam@mckenzies.net>wrote: > >> Bob McConnell wrote: >>> From: Michael A. Peters >>>> Angus Mann wrote: >>>>> Hi all, I'm fairly new to PHP so I don't have too many bad habits >>> yet. >>>>> I'm keen to make my code easy to read for me in the future, and for >>>>> others as well. >>>>> >>>>> Are there any rules or advice I can use for formatting (especially >>>>> indenting) code? >>>>> >>>>> for example how best to format / indent this ? >>>>> >>>> To each his own. Whatever floats your canoe. >>>> Just whatever you pick, stick to it throughout your code. >>>>> I'm using "PHP designer 2008" which does syntax coloring but if >>>>> it >>> has >>>>> something to automatically indent - I haven't found it yet. >>>> It probably allows you to either set a specify a tab as a real tab or >>> a >>>> specified number of spaces. Auto-indenting - this isn't python, the >>>> compiler doesn't enforce it's way, you follow the convention of the >>>> project you are working on - so I suspect many php editors tailored to >>>> php don't have an auto indent. >>>> >>>> I've never of course tried that specific product. I use bluefish, vi, >>>> and emacs. >>> To take this question a step further, is there a PHP best practices >>> document available? I am looking for one that I can give to a new >>> programmer and tell her "do it this way until you can explain to me why >>> you shouldn't." >>> >>> Bob McConnell >> There are various coding standards. There is one for PEAR, the Zend >> Framework and most frameworks/large projects that take contributions >> have them. Here's Zend: >> >> http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/coding-standard.html >> >> -- >> Thanks! >> -Shawn >> http://www.spidean.com >> >> -- >> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) >> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php >> >> > > Being a greenhorn, I too can benefit from this thread. > > Is that to say, Shawn, that you personally find this (Zend) standard as good > or better than the rest? > Many of them are very similar, I just picked Zend as an example because it is well known and they are the "PHP" company :-) I tend to follow many of the common standards but not any one in particular. I am not a professional developer and don't work with others really so its not as big of a deal. If you are working with others then I see that it is important first and foremost to have some consistency and readability. Some things are more personal preference and some are meant to make the code readable/portable. For example, the spaces vs. tabs is important because some systems/editors/IDEs display tabs differently, but 4 spaces should be 4 spaces almost everywhere. I use CakePHP mostly and try and follow they way it is coded so that it is consistent, but I flip flop on some things for no apparent reason sometimes without even realizing it. * I used to do this: function somefunc() { //something } * and if ($something) { //do something } else { //do something else } * Now I do this: function somefunc() { //something } if ($something) { //do something } else { //do something else } -- Thanks! -Shawn http://www.spidean.com