Forced

Posted Jun 15, 2011 10:15 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582)
In reply to: Forced by mingo
Parent article: Proprietary software keeps users helpless (TechRadar)

It's also ironic and a double standard: we use clean concepts in source code, we take pride in having the cleanest code on the planet and we expect clean patches from all our contributors.

By "we" I suppose you mean Linux kernel? The GNU C formatting style (the positioning of the braces, in particular) is the ugliest on the planet.

But yes, Linux is a cool name -- Linus recognised its competitive advantage back in 1993.

Forced

Posted Jun 15, 2011 13:29 UTC (Wed) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (1 responses)

The GNU C formatting style (the positioning of the braces, in particular) is the ugliest on the planet.

If that's the only objection you have to the cleanness of the Linux source code

Forced

Posted Jun 15, 2011 13:47 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]

Er... how did my comment on the GNU coding style get construed as an objection to the cleanness of the Linux kernel? The Linux kernel is most certainly not GNU.

Sidenote about the GNU coding style

Posted Jun 17, 2011 20:20 UTC (Fri) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (2 responses)

The GNU coding style is interesting because it was designed to encourage understandable code.

The short indent (2 spaces) is a good example: this leaves as much horizontal space as possible so that there's room for identifiers to be descriptive. The code should document itself.

It's a mindset. You're writing the code for others to read. It should be easy for others to re-use your code, and it should be easy for a new maintainer to take over and keep the project going if you lose interest.

Sidenote about the GNU coding style

Posted Jun 17, 2011 20:27 UTC (Fri) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239) [Link] (1 responses)

"The GNU coding style is interesting because it was designed to encourage understandable code."

I really wish I knew how nested functions fit into that.

Sidenote about the GNU coding style

Posted Jun 18, 2011 1:27 UTC (Sat) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

Ha :-) Well, yes, there are also Lisp influences in the GNU project.

But nested functions is a GCC feature, there's no suggestion or recommendation to use them in the GNU coding standards:
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/standards.html