Feedback CB: Disagreement over "Xcode Project" section

[cprime]

I would be careful with this. I know several people LIKE to do this, but setting it as a convention I think will introduce unnecessary work to avoid a problem that doesn’t really exist. I have never encountered an issue with so-called file sprawl. There are some projects I think this would certainly make sense for, but in general this causes more headaches than I think it helps anything and I’m not keen on seeing it a convention we need to follow. In fact, I have been on projects where we actually stopped trying to keep things in sync because it was too much of a pain.

I also really dislike listing things in alphabetical order. If you are scanning the project for a filename just use the filter box. Forcing alphabetical order means potentially organizing files in an arbitrary (though I acknowledge generally a useful) way. I think it is also unnecessary busy work in many cases. Allowing the developer to order as they feel will be most clear would be better.

In general I feel like XCode’s project structure is an improvement on old-school file system structures. I would rather embrace it than fight it.

[brightredchilli]

I have, many times run into the so called 'file sprawl'. The reason we need to use search is because we don't have a good convention for where to put things in place. However, if we want to put folder structure as a 'recommended' as opposed to a 'required', I would be ok with that.

I think any other ordering than alphabetical would eventually be arbitrary, as reuse happens across many different files. That is not to say that someone couldn't come up with a smart way to order and group this, but in absence, alphabetical ordering provides the most sane way of organizing the project.

None of these issues have a big impact on a project whose lifetime is 6 months and under, but as we start to maintain larger projects we should strive to grow the seemingly arbitrary standardization from just our code style to the project style.

[colinbrash]

I would prefer “recommended” over “required”.  That said, if others feel it is a big deal to have the file system reflect what is in the XCode project, I won’t make too much of a stink.

This may be of interest, if you have not seen it:

https://github.com/venmo/synx

I think if we are going to require alphabetical ordering then we should write a tool to do this for us.  For the majority of projects I really do think keeping the project structure in sync and ensuring everything is alphabetical is process for the sake of process and just going to waste developers’ time.  Maybe I am the only one who has not had issues with this though...

On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 9:13 AM, brightredchilli notifications@github.com wrote:

I have, many times run into the so called 'file sprawl'. The reason we need to use search is because we don't have a good convention for where to put things in place. However, if we want to put folder structure as a 'recommended' as opposed to a 'required', I would be ok with that. I think any other ordering than alphabetical would eventually be arbitrary, as reuse happens across many different files. That is not to say that someone couldn't come up with a smart way to order and group this, but in absence, alphabetical ordering provides the most sane way of organizing the project.

None of these issues have a big impact on a project whose lifetime is 6 months and under, but as we start to maintain larger projects we should strive to grow the seemingly arbitrary standardization from just our code style to the project style.

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/IntrepidPursuits/objective-c-style-guide/issues/13#issuecomment-66623689