Deskew Blog

I can’t stand it anymore. I honestly don’t understand why some developers (particularly those coming from the C world) continue to vertically line up else underneath if

Nobody would ever write *

switch (expression) {
   case true:
      DoSomething;
      break;

case false:
   DoSomethingElse; 
   break;
}

So write

if (expression)
   then DoSomething;
   else DoSomethingElse;

If you’re writing in C or C++, use

#define then 

so you can use the keyword anyway. If your language doesn’t allow macros, then just indent as if there was a then keyword there anyway.

if (expression)
        DoSomething;
   else DoSomethingElse;

That last might look a little odd by itself but once you need multiple statements inside the then and/or else, it makes total sense again.

if (expression)
       {
            DoLotsOfThings;
       }
   else
       {
          DoLotsOfOtherThings;
       }

* By the way, I would normally indent everything under the switch as well but I’m ignoring that here to avoid an orthogonal issue about block structures. In case you’re wondering:

switch (expression)
   {
      case true:
         DoSomething;
         break;

      case false:
         DoSomethingElse;
         break; 
   }