Readability and IF-block brackets: best practice
- by MasterPeter
I am preparing a short tutorial for level 1 uni students learning JavaScript basics. The task is to validate a phone number. The number must not contain non-digits and must be 14 digits long or less. The following code excerpt is what I came up with and I would like to make it as readable as possible.
if (
//set of rules for invalid phone number
phoneNumber.length == 0 //empty
|| phoneNumber.length > 14 //too long
|| /\D/.test(phoneNumber) //contains non-digits
) {
setMessageText(invalid);
} else {
setMessageText(valid);
}
A simple question I can not quite answer myself and would like to hear your opinions on: How to position the surrounding (outermost) brackets? It's hard to see the difference between a normal and a curly bracket. Do you usually put the last ) on the same line as the last condition? Do you keep the first opening ( on a line by itself? Do you wrap each individual sub-condition in brackets too? Do you align horizontally the first ( with the last ), or do you place the last ) in the same column as the if?
Do you keep ) { on a separate line or you place the last ) on the same line with the last sub-condition and then place the opening { on a new line? Or do you just put the ) { on the same line as the last sub-condition?
Community wiki.
EDIT
Please only post opinions regarding the usage and placement of brackets. The code needs not be re-factored. This is for people who have only been introduced to JavaScript a couple of weeks ago. I am not asking for opinions how to write the code so it's shorter or performs better. I would only like to know how do you place brackets around IF-conditions.
