Originally Posted by
digital-ether 
I'd still indent all my code and include as much whitespace as I could. Then I'd have the server buffer HTTP output and remove all indents and whitespace. The manager will never know.. :cheesy:
I've used mostly PHP and JavaScript (4 years) which are not strict with their variable types.
I think the focus should be more on keeping your variable scope within a range where you can keep track of variable types? It tends to force you to be more OOP I think..
If you're the only one looking at the code, you can have a very wide scope and not care, but when someone else will work on it, it should be more modular..
Some IDE's understand the code you write better and give code hints when you put in variable types in their names - I like to use that when scripting some language I'm not familiar with... like actionscript..
One thing I've learned is that the more you obsess - the less work you actually achieve. Lol...
I absolutely agree with this.
I have worked in PHP now for several months, Java about a year, C++ a few months, and I have found that apart from the awful mess of HTML indenting (3 nested tables, and half ur working space is gaps ;x), that proper indentation, casting, variable types, indentation and uses of classes is critical to the further enhancement of software development projects.
It is critical that when software is designed, it is not designed using short sightedness of a sole programmer who's coding standard and structure is a royal mess.
As I myself having taken a PHP development position (my first actually
), I have come to realisation, first of all which I already believed, that proper code flow, structure and indentation is at the outmost,
critical for reusability, improvement and modification in time.
On top of that, proper documentation is vital, it cannot be said enough how important having documentation of a system is.
Modular programming practises imo, should be enforced in every teaching institution as a first programming method, and stress its importance. Each individual will develop their own methods and structures, but it is critical in team environments, and open source, that the same structure, and declarations etc. be consistent,
the same throughout and properly documented/commented.
I myself am only 21, but I do know a thing or two about working in projects with other coders/developers/designers who can't design or code cleanly.
