Discussion on: What programming best practice do you disagree with?

[Jonathan Kuhl]

C# Style guidelines. I don't like having the opening bracer on its own line:

Don't like

public static void DoTheThing()
{
   Thing theThing = new Thing();
   theThing.do();
}

Do like

public static void DoTheThing() {
   Thing theThing = new Thing();
   theThing.do();
}

Also, I refuse to have a dangling comma.

const favoriteThings = [
   "whiskers on kittens",
   "bright copper kettles",
   "warm woolen mittens",
   "brown paper packages tied up with strings",
];

Ugh. No. Gross. I think internally it makes my brain expect something to follow the last item, but nothing does.

[Michael Ober]

For functions and methods, including anonymous lambda functions, I keep the opening brace on the next line by itself. For objects and everything I put the opening brace on the line with the declaration.

Will 'favoriteThings' even compile with that final comma?

[Jonathan Kuhl]

In JavaScript, the final comma is optional. In many other languages, that might not be the case.

[Samuele Zanca]

Oof, 6 months old buuuuttt. Yes, it does compile. Just like js, it's there for convenience when editing. You can't however do that in object initializers e.g.:

var obj = new MyClass
{
  item1, //shorthand if same name
  item2 = item2, //<—this comma gives error
};

(on mobile, fingers crossed for formatting)

[Abe Dolinger]

Old thread, but in JS, the dangling comma is actually mandatory in our style guide. It makes edits easier - you can reorder or delete the last item without changing other lines. I think your point about expecting something else is valid.