6 ms·
It sounds like perhaps a case of being so focused on whether the program could be built that they didn't stop to ask whether it should be built. Automatic code
by jemfinch 9y ago
It sounds like perhaps a case of being so focused on whether the program could be built that they didn't stop to ask whether it should be built.
Automatic code formatters don't need to be perfect or complete; they simply must format good code well. If bad code (as many of the difficult examples were) formats poorly, that's just another reason for people to write better code.
- skybrian 9y agoYou're right that "good enough" code formatting is often good enough. On the other hand, a tool that does better formatting in more cases is more likely to be used. Also, sometimes code refactoring is done automatically, so nobody is closely looking at the code.
- marcosdumay 9y agoIf you are using it to enforce a formating over a code base, ok a good enough formater will do. But one of the biggest use cases of a code formater is for understanding bad code. If it can't format bad code, that use case is gone.