Philippe Lhoste wrote:
>

I didn't properly explain what I meant when I said that things are often
widly used for a good reason. I was talking about situations where you
have several competitive alternatives. For example, out of the search
engine alternatives, google is most widely used (I think?), and for a
good reason.

> IE and Windows are widely used. Is it for a good
> reason, or because of Microsoft politics?

It's for good reasons, although you may not like the reaons. For
example, Windows is the platform most widely supported by software (I
think), and that is a good reason to use Windows.

> Most people in France don't use their turning
> lights (clignotants). Is it for a good reason?

That's not the kind of comparisons I was talking about.

> Hamburgers and Coca-Cola are widely consummed.
> Are they de facto good food?

Hamburgers and Coca-Cola are widely consumed compared to what exactly? I
think that water is more widely consumed. It doesn't make sense to do
comparisons like these... Besides, quality is certainly not the only
criteria for determining if something is widely used or not. There can
be many other good reasons than quality.

> More on the topic, Kernighan & Richie's C style, ie.
> with opening soft brace on the same line of the
> statement, were used in their book. It was the
> learning book of most C programmers. That's why
> their style was so widely used.

Yes, but...

> Probably the same for the POV-Ray style... I used
> K&R first, then I saw good arguments on the aligned
> braces style, and since then I sticked to it.

See? People can just change their style. I think that if a style did not
work very well, then most people would switch to other alternatives.

> With modern displays, compactness is not such a must.

But it's still a good thing (when it doesn't hurt readability).

> And for a more global view, printing is a solution.

No thanks. :)

> Note: for C code, programs like AStyle can help to
> switch from a format to another. Perhaps we should
> make something similar for POV-Ray. I wish I have
> one when I look at some code :-)

Me too! :)

Rune
--
3D images and anims, include files, tutorials and more:
rune|vision:  http://runevision.com (updated Sep 8)
POV-Ray Ring: http://webring.povray.co.uk

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