3 ms·

Jeez it's just data! Use a standard format for serialization and then use programs to format it for reading & everyone gets to read it the way they like it

mrmaloke 8y ago
That way you force a serialization standard upon everyone. I'd rather force a formatting standard upon everyone and get the benefit of readable code with any tool e.g. also code reviews in version control. There's hardly a way to read code "the way I like it" in a webapp.
- vbuwivbiu 8y ago
  that's exactly what I mean by standard serialization format - format of code exchanged between people and programs. You can always rely on the standard way (for example the one presented here) when reading code on github or when you open it in your text editor by default, and then if you have another way you prefer that it be formatted, you can use a program to format it that way for you while you work on it - however when you commit it, it's formatted the standard way not your special way. We've conflated how the code is stored with how it looks. We need to separate these. That's one of the problems with equating code with text: they're different things. Code is data (or objects), text is a way to represent code.
  - rogual 8y ago
    I don't know if they are totally separate. Say you like to see XMLHttpRequest and I like to see xml-http-request. If I type xml-http-request, how can a piece of software know how to translate that to XMLHttpRequest? It's not just variable casing; it's any situation where one coding style distinguishes two things which look the same in another coding style. And I think there's a lot of such cases.
    - vbuwivbiu 8y ago
      this is in the context of LISP code
ludwigvan 8y ago
That’s quite insightful actually. It had not occurred to me that way and for a simple example, I can envision a prettier based web extension that makes reading code bases online easier.

mrmaloke 8y ago

That way you force a serialization standard upon everyone. I'd rather force a formatting standard upon everyone and get the benefit of readable code with any tool e.g. also code reviews in version control. There's hardly a way to read code "the way I like it" in a webapp.

vbuwivbiu 8y ago
that's exactly what I mean by standard serialization format - format of code exchanged between people and programs. You can always rely on the standard way (for example the one presented here) when reading code on github or when you open it in your text editor by default, and then if you have another way you prefer that it be formatted, you can use a program to format it that way for you while you work on it - however when you commit it, it's formatted the standard way not your special way. We've conflated how the code is stored with how it looks. We need to separate these. That's one of the problems with equating code with text: they're different things. Code is data (or objects), text is a way to represent code.
- rogual 8y ago
  I don't know if they are totally separate. Say you like to see XMLHttpRequest and I like to see xml-http-request. If I type xml-http-request, how can a piece of software know how to translate that to XMLHttpRequest? It's not just variable casing; it's any situation where one coding style distinguishes two things which look the same in another coding style. And I think there's a lot of such cases.
  - vbuwivbiu 8y ago
    this is in the context of LISP code

ludwigvan 8y ago

That’s quite insightful actually. It had not occurred to me that way and for a simple example, I can envision a prettier based web extension that makes reading code bases online easier.