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Comment by sudahtigabulan

8 hours ago

> Note that programs were usually typed on as few lines as possible, because they had to be punched to punched cards or typed in at a teletype which echoed its input on paper.

I suspect this is the real reason behind "cram all the closing parentheses together on the same line" rule.

The only rationale I've seen online is in Taylor Campbell's style guide:

> Absolutely do not place closing brackets on their own lines.

> ...

> Rationale: The parentheses grow lonely if their closing brackets are all kept separated and segregated.

Yeah, right.

Anybody know anything about how this rule came to be?

Heh, I remember that and personally answering no when he complained about my paren formatting. I miss that channel.

This drives me nuts. I love LISP but refuse to pretend writing `)))))))` is reasonable.

  • My editor (emacs) shows how I close the scopes and it is easy enough. I'm not sure why writing

        )
          )
            )
              )
                )
    

    would be so much better.

  • Why are you writing ')))))' instead of your closing parenthesis being autogenerated. Sounds like a recipe for failure.

    • The 2026 version is: Why are you writing Lisp instead of your code being autogenerated. Sounds like a recipe for failure.

  • ))))))) isn't so bad, but )))))))) is just getting ridiculous. You have to draw the line somewhere