[Contents] [Prev] [Next]

## 8 - White Space

### 8.1 Blank Lines

Blank lines improve readability by setting off sections of code that are logically related.

Two blank lines should always be used in the following circumstances:

- Between sections of a source file
- Between class and interface definitions

One blank line should always be used in the following circumstances:

- Between methods
- Between the local variables in a method and its first statement
- Before a block (see section 5.1.1) or single-line (see section 5.1.2) comment
- Between logical sections inside a method to improve readability

### 8.2 Blank Spaces

Blank spaces should be used in the following circumstances:

- A keyword followed by a parenthesis should be separated by a space. Example:

>            while (true) {
>                ...
>            }

Note that a blank space should not be used between a method name and its opening parenthesis. This helps to distinguish keywords from method calls.

- A blank space should appear after commas in argument lists.
- All binary operators except `.` should be separated from their operands by spaces. Blank spaces should never separate unary operators such as unary minus, increment ("++"), and decrement ("--") from their operands. Example:

>         a += c + d;
>         a = (a + b) / (c * d);

>         while (d++ = s++) {
>             n++;
>         }
>         printSize("size is " + foo + "\n");

- The expressions in a `for` statement should be separated by blank spaces. Example:

>         for (expr1; expr2; expr3)

- Casts should be followed by a blank space. Examples:

>         myMethod((byte) aNum, (Object) x);
>         myMethod((int) (cp + 5), ((int) (i + 3))
>                                       + 1);

[Contents] [Prev] [Next]

Copyright © 1995-1999, Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.