D style guide [Was: Re: Fatal flaw in...]

[Matt]

> Don:
> > I think that the style guide should be removed. It's rather obsolete and 
> > was never completely accepted. It's misleading, and not adding much 
> > value any more.
> 
> A style guide is important to increase the uniformity of code written in D, I have followed most of it in my dlibs1. One of the main purposes of a module system is to help sharing working units of code. Conventions are important when you want to use modules written by other people. The C/C++ code you can find in the wild is ever different, while other languages (like C# and Python) show the value of more uniformity. Too much freedom in style and form is not positive. D can improve on this too compared to C/C++.

Very good point about shared code, and C#/Python.  It's not like the D language forces you to do your OWN style in any particular way.  But having a uniform presentation in the shared language code goes a long way in learning and adoption.

And although my original post was semi-joking... much of me has seriously thought when first perusing the language and code examples, "Why would someone mix tabs and spaces together and write a style guide saying that it's SUPPOSED to be that way?  This language must be a joke..."

I know this conversation thread is a silly anecdote to many hardcore readers in this newsgroup, but it's message is dead-on serious when it applies to intelligent outsiders who peruse D, and sophomores in college trying to learn how to program, among others.