The Psychology of Quality and More

C Style: Standards and Guidelines (contents)

CHAPTER 6 : Layout

PART 3 : LAYOUT

CHAPTER 6 : Code Layout
6.1 Basic principles of code layout
6.2 Use of Spaces
6.3 Use of blank lines
6.4 Use vertical alignment
6.5 Indentation level
6.6 Line wrapping
6.7 Braces
6.8 Use of parentheses
6.9 Nested single statement
6.10 Empty statements
6.11 'else..if'
6.12 'switch' statements
6.13 'do..while'
6.14 Labels
6.15 Data declarations
6.16 Function declaration
6.17 Preprocessor commands
6.18 Summary

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6.4  Use vertical alignment

Vertical alignment is a kind of chunking of similar or related items which are on separate lines. The lines need not even be next to one another as a vertical visual link can be made across a number of lines (see 2.6).

Code indentation is a normal use of vertical alignment. Data declarations commonly use the same rule (see 6.15.3). It can also be used to align equals signs where there are several assignments together:

BoxHeight   = CalcBoxHeight( Box );
BoxWidth    = CalcBoxWidth( Box );
BoxLength   = CalcBoxLength( Box );

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