hammerlab / style-guides

Guidelines of the Hammer Lab

Hammer Lab Style Guides

Guidelines for programming languages, git workflows, etc.

style-guides's Issues

Use if-then-else in OCaml

I find

match force_reload with
| false -> Target_cache.get explorer.target_cache ~id
| true -> return None

more confusing than

if force_reload then
  return None
else
  Target_cache.get explorer.target_cache ~id

or

if force_reload
then return None
else Target_cache.get explorer.target_cache ~id

which is my preferred version.

Vertical alignment

I've become a big fan of vertically aligning data-structure definitions and let bindings. So I strong prefer:

type exploration_state = {
  build_process_details : bool;
  target_filter         : (Target.t -> bool) * Log.t;
  current_target        : Target.id option;
  condition_details     : bool;
}

let create_state () = { 
  build_process_details = false;
  condition_details     = false;
  target_filter         = (fun _ -> true), Log.(s "No-filter, see them all");
  current_target        = None
}

to

type exploration_state = {
  build_process_details: bool;
  target_filter: (Target.t -> bool) * Log.t;
  current_target: Target.id option;
  condition_details: bool;
}

let create_state () =
  {build_process_details = false;
    condition_details = false;
    target_filter = (fun _ -> true), Log.(s "No-filter, see them all");
    current_target = None}

similarly, I like

let foo a b c =
    let x   = a () in
    let xx  = b x in
    let y   = c xx in
    ...

as opposed to

let foo a b c =
    let x = a () in
    let xx = b x in
    let y = c xx in

I find it easier to read code as performing a function this way. I know that I resisted this style for quiet some time in my own code, but now find it very helpful. Let me know what you guys think!