Faith Based Formatting
09 Feb 2017The Holy Wars
Well, perhaps not that long, but it has been a subject of discussion for a while now. Many people have added to this commentary over how code should be formatted. How are we to denote changes in our code? Different ways of writing code are easier to read than others! Should we use a or tab spaces instead? There are arguments from both sides which are rather compelling. The thing that I find most interesting is the lengths to which people will argue one way or another. While both sides have highly articulated arguments which make it almost impossible to choose, it is interesting to read all of the arguments. I find it much more interesting to be an observer to the battle than to be an active participant in it. This way I have less chances to be stabbed. Not zero chances, but less likelyt than if I had picked a side.
Conflict
I don’t have any strong opinions on the matter. On the one hand you could press one button, on the other you could press a different button three times. This point was brought up in the show Silicon Vally. I must say spoilers at this point in case that sort of thing matters to you. The subject of an episode revolved around the main character in a relationship and their particular views on tabs and spaces. The episode opens with him having a small discussion with his overseas team about the subject. In it he attempts to be polite about it, but his anger is apparent when he basically calls the people using spaces less than human. His team agrees to use tabs, but they are honestly confused about the matter since they are basically the same thing in their opinion. His whole view is based around efficiency. If you can do the same work in less keystrokes you are being more efficient.
He ends up looking a bit crazy, but its just that he’s so passionate about it that he seems like a religious fanatic. His roommates warn his new love interest about these views, and she shrugs it off like its nothing, after all, what’s the big deal right? It doesn’t take long for the issue to be talked about and in the course of a scene they end their relationship because of it.
Thoughts
I can understand what it is like to like things in a certain order, to have things look a certain way. The only issue with this is that there comes a point where you start being compared to Nazi Germany and then all bets are off. My main views on this revolve around file names. I have very particular ways I like to name my files. It changes based on what I’m doing, but I like how it looks in the folder when everything is all formatted the same way.
I have never had to work with a large group of people and attempt to get them to agree on the same thing. The closest I’ve been is trying to get a few people to agree on the same thing for dinner. Formatting is a personal choice, but if everyone isn’t on the same page the result just looks ugly. Not to say that clean is necessarily good, but at least it does not make you want to gouge out your eyes. It seems like there is no end in sight, to this particular conflict anyways, but this will probably be solved around the same time we resolve racism.