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javanaming-conventions

To put space before method signature or not?

I would like to know what the overall recommendation is for whitespace between a method's name and its parameters.

That is, the general preference between the following two lines:

public static void main (String[] args) {} // (We'll ignore the question of spaces between the `String` and `[]` .)
public static void main(String[] args) {}

I recently have begun to feel like the former is the better one, especially considering that everything else in a method declaration (e.g. the throws Exception(s) section) is also space-separated.

Solution

  • As chris mentioned in the comments, the Official Java Code Conventions specifically states:

    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.

    As you questionably considered in your question, methods are different on purpose.