Re: A small rant about coding style for backend functions

On 11/1/07, Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> wrote:
>
> I have not forgotten this suggestion. Do have any ideas what such a
> list would look like? Examples?
>

Thanks for the reply Bruce.

Code examples, perhaps with "good style" and "bad style" versions to
illustrate each point.

In the case of Tom's OP about making all your GETARG calls at the top
of the function, you could show (for a trivial function) how it looks
with all the GETARGs stacked neatly at the top, and how it looks with
the GETARGs scattered and inaccurate.

I think that would make it immediately clear to any newbie why it's a good idea.

> I think we have avoided more details in fear of scaring off coders.
> People usually follow our style as they gain experience. Having a hard
> list seems like it would be a lot of do's and don't's.

Just my perspective, but I think you'll scare off a lot more coders by
giving them no firm guidance in the first place, and then jumping down
their throats with "you did this wrong" when they post a patch.

Might be worth opening up a wiki page for devs to contribute their
insights about writing excellent (as opposed to merely passable)
Postgres code. The GETARG rant could make a good starting point.

Cheers
BJ