The Elements of Programming Style: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|1978 book by Brian W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger}}

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==Lessons==

Its lessons are summarized at the end of each section in [[Aphorism|pithy maxims]], such as "Let the machine do the dirty work":

# Write clearly —– don't be too clever.

# Say what you mean, simply and directly.

# Use library functions whenever feasible.

# Avoid too many temporary variables.

# Write clearly —– don't sacrifice clarity for efficiency.

# Let the machine do the dirty work.

# Replace repetitive expressions by calls to common functions.

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# Modularize. Use procedures and functions.

# Avoid gotos completely if you can keep the program readable.

# Don't patch bad code —– rewrite it.

# Write and test a big program in small pieces.

# Use recursive procedures for recursively- defined data structures.

# Test input for plausibility and validity.

# Make sure input doesn't violate the limits of the program.

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# Make sure special cases are truly special.

# Keep it simple to make it faster.

# Don't diddle code to make it faster —– find a better algorithm.

# Instrument your programs. Measure before making efficiency changes.

# Make sure comments and code agree.

# Don't just echo the code with comments —– make every comment count.

# Don't comment bad code —– rewrite it.

# Use variable names that mean something.

# Use statement labels that mean something.

# Format a program to help the reader understand it.

# Document your data layouts.

# Don't over-comment.

Modern readers may find it a shortcoming that its examples use older [[procedural programming languages]] ([[Fortran]] and [[PL/I]]) whichthat are quite different from those popular today. Few of today's popular languages had been invented when this book was written. However, many of the book's points that generally concern stylistic and structural issues transcend the details of particular languages.

==Reception==

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==External links==

*[http://www.softwarequotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=574&name=P. J. Plauger selected quotes from ''The Elements of Programming Style'']

*{{YouTube|id=8SUkrR7ZfTA|title=Elements of Programming Style -– 2009 Brian Kernighan talk at Princeton}}

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[[Category:1974 non-fiction books]]

[[Category:Computer programming books]]

[[Category:Collaborative non-fiction books]]

[[Category:McGraw-Hill books]]