Should I use block identifiers ("end;") in my code?
- by JosephStyons
Code Complete says it is good practice to always use block identifiers, both for clarity and as a defensive measure.
Since reading that book, I've been doing that religiously. Sometimes it seems excessive though, as in the case below.
Is Steve McConnell right to insist on always using block identifiers? Which of these would you use?
//naughty and brief
with myGrid do
for currRow := FixedRows to RowCount - 1 do
if RowChanged(currRow) then
if not(RecordExists(currRow)) then
InsertNewRecord(currRow)
else
UpdateExistingRecord(currRow);
//well behaved and verbose
with myGrid do begin
for currRow := FixedRows to RowCount - 1 do begin
if RowChanged(currRow) then begin
if not(RecordExists(currRow)) then begin
InsertNewRecord(currRow);
end //if it didn't exist, so insert it
else begin
UpdateExistingRecord(currRow);
end; //else it existed, so update it
end; //if any change
end; //for each row in the grid
end; //with myGrid
