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  14    <H1>[IRCServices Coding] contributing to ircservices : legal and coding standards problems</H1>
  15     <B>Andrew Church</B>
  16     <A HREF="mailto:ircservices-coding%40ircservices.za.net?Subject=%5BIRCServices%20Coding%5D%20contributing%20to%20ircservices%20%3A%20legal%20and%20coding%20standards%20problems&In-Reply-To=20021213155902.GA13748%40ox.lucas-nussbaum.net"
  17        TITLE="[IRCServices Coding] contributing to ircservices : legal and coding standards problems">achurch at achurch.org
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  19     <I>Sat Dec 14 09:09:50 PST 2002</I>
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  34 <PRE>&gt;<i>This isn't the point. GNU indent automatizes the process of formatting
  35 </I>&gt;<i>code.
  36 </I>
  37      This is exactly why I _don't_ want it used.  One reason is that some
  38 formatting decisions are readability decisions (e.g. &quot;does it look better
  39 with or without the space?&quot;), which a computer can't make.  Good coding
  40 style isn't just about how many spaces you put where--it's about making the
  41 code readable.  The other reason--and I freely admit that this is biased;
  42 c'est la vie--is that if you're a good enough programmer, matching someone
  43 else's style isn't such a big problem that you need a tool to do it, and if
  44 you're not that good a programmer, then I probably wouldn't use your code
  45 anyway.  (As I say in the FAQ, I almost never accept code from _anyone_; I
  46 usually take just the suggestions and implement them myself.  This way I
  47 can keep a better mental image of the program and find problems more
  48 quickly.)
  49
  50   --Andrew Church
  51     <A HREF="http://www.ircservices.za.net/mailman/listinfo/ircservices-coding">achurch at achurch.org</A>
  52     <A HREF="http://achurch.org/">http://achurch.org/</A>
  53
  54 </PRE>
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