Why does NodeJS prefer the comma-first coding style?

Question

I have been learning NodeJS recently.

It seems to be standard in the Node world to write code with commas first:

var connect = require('connect')
  , HTTPSServer = require('./https')
  , HTTPServer = require('./http')
  , Route = require('./router/route')

I don't like it and my code editor via JSLint throws countless errors.

My question is: is there a justifiable reason why "nodesters" are doing this or is it just a cool new style?

Until now I have been "correcting" it by putting the commas back "where they should be" to comply with JSLint.

But it occurred to me recently that this approach is not very sustainable, especially if I am going to make use of more community modules.

score 18 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 16 '12 at 17:35

18

Generally, it makes for cleaner looking code (subjective), and easy spotting of errors. Happy reading

answered Jun 16 '12 at 17:35

Madara's Ghost

@Loktar: First result on Google :) – Madara's Ghost Jun 16 '12 at 17:37
5

While I consider it somewhat more readable (same as "dot-first" when chaining methods), I'm a little wary of it because of the possibility of accidentally triggering semicolon insertion (which can never happen on a line ending with a comma or dot). That's probably why jslint doesn't like it. – ebohlman Jun 17 '12 at 12:37
5

Very subjective indeed... Eeew – Richard de Wit Jan 15 '15 at 13:21
2

Also I like to have my commas that way because if I comment any line it does not break the code. – Joan Barros Jul 05 '15 at 01:46

1 Answers1