I've looked at Some thoughts around the "is Perl code maintainable" discussion, as well as other threads on Programming standards, peer reviews, etc. and have a related question.

When you need to enhance or debug code written by someone else, do you restrict yourself to the minimal change? Or do you find yourself cleaning up code, making it look more the way you program?

I've inherited code written by someone who wrote verbosely. I keep finding myself saying "I could make this so much smaller, so much more efficient".

Mind you, verbose programming can be very useful, especially in an environment where you don't know who may end up supporting your software. Dense programming could cause more problems, and would require extensive retesting.

Regardless of that, I'm curious: Do you give in to the temptation to make someone elses code look more like yours, or do you successfully resist it?

In reply to Maintenance vs. Programming style by apl

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