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The New C Rules

1. If consequences must use brackets unless the consequences are the same line as the if. (Rationale)
   Acceptable:
   • if (something) do_this;
   • if (something) { do_this; }
   • if (something) {
do_this;
}
   Unacceptable:
   • if (something)
do_this;
2. No more than 3 embedded ?: operators embedded in a single expression in regular code (5 are allowed for macros).
3. Parenthesis are required for embedding ?:
   Acceptable
   • foo = something?(somethingelse?one:two):three;
   • foo = (something?(somethingelse?one:two):three);
   Unacceptable:
   • foo = something?somethingelse?one:two:three;
4. A tab is a tab is a tab. For formatting purposes, your text editor should use TABS ('\t', ascii character 9). If you want to view documents with different tab widths, that's the perogative of your text editor - the actual file should be unaffected by your preference and should still use TABS.

Rationale

1. For Rule 1: When multiple people edit the same file, some things can be changed without explicit testing. A file may start out with a simple line:

   do_this();

   One person may add an if (preference) before it, while someone else changes do_this(); into do_this_setup(); do_this(); do_this_cleanup(); The code will become:

   if (preference)
do_this_setup();
do_this();
do_this_cleanup();

   And the logic will very suddenly BREAK without notice, even though both changes were valid changes. If we simply require if's to either be on the same line as their consequence or have brackets around their consequence, these changes will either conflict (and someone will notice this and can fix it) or they will Just Work ™
2. For Rule 2: This rule is for clarity.
3. For Rule 3: This rule is for clarity.
4. For Rule 4: The problem with whitespace is that you can't see it. Because of that, spaces and tabs look exactly the same to the person setting up the file originally. Tabs are frequently used to justify code, which is useful for visual clarity. Tabs are good because they can be changed to different widths depending on the preference of the viewer. Spaces have a set width, and cannot be changed. Thus, replacing a tab with 8 (or however many) spaces means a loss of flexibility. In a sense, the tab is a meta character, meaning "this should be indented" without specifying how much.

   Many text editors have certain situations where they will use spaces instead of tabs for indenting. In vi, the method for "fixing" a file that has been mixed, use the command :retab!. You can also use the indent program.

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