Require braces

[jonmeow]

Require braces, never optional, particularly in control flow like if/else.

[zygoloid]

Thanks, this generally looks good. I don't think I had any major comments.

[jonmeow]

Responding to comments

[jonmeow]

(comment pass, responded on topic but forgot to do a review)

[jonmeow]

I was moving #655 to draft and remembered else if, so I've added a note calling that out here as correct code.

[chandlerc]

Really sorry about the delay here... I had several comments and apparently didn't mash the "send" button. =[[[ Hopefully all easy changes just adding information. I've tried to make it very clear what I tihnk is useful to add, and I'm not expecting this to change the outcome of anything.

[chandlerc]

Seems worth including as background the CERT rule:
https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/EXP19-C.+Use+braces+for+the+body+of+an+if%2C+for%2C+or+while+statement

And the blog post about goto fail;: https://www.imperialviolet.org/2014/02/22/applebug.html

FWIW, I'm not suggesting that goto fail; should be a strong rationale for this pattern, but I do think it should be addressed explicitly as it is often cited as a reason for this change. FWIW, I agree with @zygoloid below that simplifying the language grammar seems like a strong motivation. I actually like the summary of the importance of braces here in the blog post:

Maybe the coding style contributed to this by allowing ifs without braces, but one can have incorrect indentation with braces too, so that doesn't seem terribly convincing to me.

[jonmeow]

Seems worth including as background the CERT rule:
https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/EXP19-C.+Use+braces+for+the+body+of+an+if%2C+for%2C+or+while+statement

Linked.

And the blog post about goto fail;: https://www.imperialviolet.org/2014/02/22/applebug.html

Added, moved up the link that was in rationale.

FWIW, I'm not suggesting that goto fail; should be a strong rationale for this pattern, but I do think it should be addressed explicitly as it is often cited as a reason for this change. FWIW, I agree with @zygoloid below that simplifying the language grammar seems like a strong motivation. I actually like the summary of the importance of braces here in the blog post:

Maybe the coding style contributed to this by allowing ifs without braces, but one can have incorrect indentation with braces too, so that doesn't seem terribly convincing to me.

Are you saying to remove the mention of goto fail from the rationale? Do you want this sentence somewhere in particular?

[chandlerc]

Nah, I'm happy mentioning it, I just didn't want to overstate its importance. I've suggested a place where it could even be included in the disadvantages section, but that's optional given the comment in the rationale. Up to you.

[jonmeow]

Addressing comments

[jonmeow]

Seems worth including as background the CERT rule:
https://wiki.sei.cmu.edu/confluence/display/c/EXP19-C.+Use+braces+for+the+body+of+an+if%2C+for%2C+or+while+statement

Linked.

And the blog post about goto fail;: https://www.imperialviolet.org/2014/02/22/applebug.html

Added, moved up the link that was in rationale.

FWIW, I'm not suggesting that goto fail; should be a strong rationale for this pattern, but I do think it should be addressed explicitly as it is often cited as a reason for this change. FWIW, I agree with @zygoloid below that simplifying the language grammar seems like a strong motivation. I actually like the summary of the importance of braces here in the blog post:

Maybe the coding style contributed to this by allowing ifs without braces, but one can have incorrect indentation with braces too, so that doesn't seem terribly convincing to me.

Are you saying to remove the mention of goto fail from the rationale? Do you want this sentence somewhere in particular?

[chandlerc]

LGTM and thanks! I confirmed w/ the leads they're happy with this direction too so we're good to go. Thanks so much for getting it clearly written up!

[chandlerc]

Nah, I'm happy mentioning it, I just didn't want to overstate its importance. I've suggested a place where it could even be included in the disadvantages section, but that's optional given the comment in the rationale. Up to you.