I'm trying to get a handle on Java indentation standards. Throughout this MOOC course, I've encountered a specific exercise that required me to format my code differently than I'm used to. I was quite surprised by the outcome, as it deviated from my traditional indentation style. Here are two code snippets for comparison. Which one do you find more readable? Snippet 1 is what the course accepted, while Snippet 2 reflects how I normally format it.
4 Answers
There are standard code conventions to follow: check out Oracle's and Google's guidelines. Both indicate that optional curly braces should be used, especially in cases like 'else if'. It really helps with readability and tracking the flow of the code. Personally, I always include those braces for clarity. It makes things much easier to understand!
Are you asking about having the 'else' further indented compared to 'else if' in your version? That’s a key point to address!
yeah, sort of progressing in an out -> in slope starting from if, else if, then else.
It looks like your examples might not have come through clearly. Generally, it’s a good practice to line up closing braces directly beneath the opening ones. After the last closing brace, ‘else’ statements should start with just one space, and there's no extra indentation for else-if statements in a chain. This layout lets you scan through the if-else structure easily without confusion. Remember, do distinguish between nesting and chaining to avoid misleading presentation!
ahh, alright, thank you. I feel like I sorta get it, I used to code in a python-like language, which may explain the nesting habit.
Using auto-indent in most IDEs will help you get a clean layout, like this: if (first == second) { System.out.println("Same!"); } else if (first > second) { System.out.println("The first was larger than the second!"); } else { System.out.println("The second was larger than the first!"); } Notice how the right brace lines up directly under the 'i' in 'if'. This way, the indentation stays consistent, especially with many else-if statements. Also, I personally like to add spaces after closing braces and before opening braces—it just looks better and clearer!
I appreciate the comment, I honestly like your style of indentation, I'll be following it next time I code, ty!
ah, thank you so much, I'll be sure to follow the convention next time.