This is on topic but doesn't really fit any of the vb-specific forums.

I have my own slightly lazy, slightly more efficient-for-me style of coding and I was firstly wondering what you guys thought of it and if you had any styles that break the "how to write neat code" rules yourselves.

I use 5 things I can remember:
1. I omit unnecessary curly braces
2. Shorthand ifs
3. I don't use switch_exec_bg()
4. I don't always use templates. I never use phrases.
5. Simplify the damn queries!


1. I don't use curly braces for single commands, e.g.
No reason other than it's a lot quicker to type and I find the code is easier to read.


2. I find shorthand ifs much nicer than longhand
rather than

3. I don't see why people use switch_exec_bg (it's the function that switches a row background color from alt1 to alt2 (light to darker)).
I use
which seems more logical because it saves time looking up the function.
The function's description says it can support > 1 background set at the same time, but since you only create one set of rows at any time, I don't see the point.


4. Okay I know this one is laziness
I don't always use templates in my scripts.
Sometimes I'll put things like row content directly within the php file. Sometimes it's just a hassle to create a new template, figure out all the row variables you have to put in it etc. Plus I read somewhere that eval() is quite slow.


5. Example:
I use
For one thing, $row is quicker to type than $currentthread.
For another it's always the same so I can type new queries easier.

For queries that need to stay open and can't be freed, I can understand the unique name. For the rest, I struggle to see why.
Probably more of a pet peeve than anything.



And now a mini rant:
Why doesn't vb include a print_r() function. I use
It's one of the most useful debugging tools out there.
Come to think of it, why isn't there a hook in functions.php so you can make your own functions. grr.



Anyway,
Any other interesting coding habits I could adopt that break all the rules?
Is it really important to have coding style that follows all the rules before it's released? I've got a couple I'd like to release but they basically use the above.

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Some good points you made there ;).

Generally when I code a private project which doesn't need configurability (for my own site, or a site I run) it sometimes gets pretty messy :p. However, when I code a public hack I generally tend to code 'by the book' so its easy to make modifications for and to learn from the hack.

Also, when making commercial products I always code 'by the book', because this simply looks a lot better and the customer can easily make modifications him-/herself.

Well, there is no "book". But generally, you should always code to the standards that is most acceptable. Otherwise, you will have a hard time coding with others. Curly brases are not an option if you want your code to be readable.

Keep in mind, if you are refering to vb's so called coding standard,well, that is just their oppinion. They have a standard for their own workgroup. However, we are not part of that workgroup. It's best to stick to the norm that the vast array of coders use.

This is not the best use of the ternary.
It should be like this.
Now that is short.

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