What is the proper way to format code?

Question

When I write code, I try to group lines of similar code together, then leave a blank line and write another block.

I believe this contributes to the neatness and readabi

Answer 1

Not to sound pretentious, but I think of blank lines in code as having a similar function to phrase marks in music notation, or line breaks in poetry: they communicate intent to the reader without changing the semantics of the content.

Here's a method I just copied and pasted from a project:

public static void Startup(bool startupUser)
{
    URI = "";
    AutoComplete = new AutoCompleteWrapper();
    SessionToken = Guid.Empty;
    ExternalDataSetLock = new object();

    ConfigDS.Init();
    CalendarDS.Init();
    CalendarDSBuilder.Init();

    if (startupUser && UserName != null)
    {
        string autoCompleteFilename = Path.Combine(UserFolder, "autocomplete.xml");
        AutoComplete.Load(autoCompleteFilename);
    }
}

What do the blank lines do here? They clarify that there are basically three different kinds of initialization taking place in this method. If I add a new property that needs to be initialized on startup, I know where I'm going to put the line that initializes it. The blank lines also hint at how I intend to refactor this function if it doubles in size.

The risk of using blank lines is the same as the danger of any other kind of implied meaning: it's implied. The implication you're making when you write the code may not be the implication that the person reading the code understands.

But mercy, that's no reason not to use them.