Re: When is multiple assignment good style?

[Coda Highland <chighland@...>]

On Mon, Mar 13, 2017 at 9:41 AM, Tim Hill <drtimhill@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mar 13, 2017, at 1:35 AM, Sean Conner <sean@conman.org> wrote:
>>
>>  I only use multiple assignments in one line for two cases:
>>
>>       permuting values (and then, it's usually only a swap of two values)
>>       when a function returns more than one value
>>
>> For everything else, I tend to use one variable per line.  I tend to like
>> vertical code layouts (it comes from years of assembly language
>> programming).
>>
>
> Interesting, because I like multiple assignment to get just the opposite effect (also after many years of assembly coding). Given that the more of my code I can see on the screen at once, the more I like it, I tend to try to use a more horizontal style. However, I try to avoid piling up too many assignments (3-4 max), and only when the RHS expressions are simple.
>
> Also,
> its
> often
> easier
> to
> read
> code
> horizontally.
>
> Another case is when a few local control variables are being setup for some following block of code. I like that they are grouped together to essentially say “setup state for the following code”.
>
> —Tim

I think there's a reasonable argument for
local a, b, c, d =
      e, f, g, h

This gives you some level of alignment between value and variable that
one-lining it doesn't, while being more compact than a series of
one-variable assignments.

/s/ Adam