Editing Code folding (section)

===Hiding boilerplate code===
Some languages or libraries require extensive [[boilerplate code]]. This results in extremely long code, which can obscure the main point. Further, substantive code can be lost in the boilerplate.

For example, in Java a single private field with a getter and setter requires at least 3 lines, if each is on a separate line:

<syntaxhighlight lang=java>
private String name = null;
public String getName() { return name; }
public void setName(String name) { this.name = name; }
</syntaxhighlight>

This expands to 10 lines with conventional function line breaks and spacing between functions (including trailing newline):

<syntaxhighlight lang=java>
private String name = null;

public String getName() {
    return name;
}

public void setName(String name) {
    this.name = name;
}
</syntaxhighlight>

Documentation with Javadoc expands this to 20 lines:

<syntaxhighlight lang=java>
/**
 * Property <code>name</code>  readable/writable.
 */
private String name = null;

/**
 * Getter for property <code>name</code>
 */
public String getName() {
    return name;
}

/**
 * Setter for property <code>name</code>.
 * @param name
 */
public void setName(String name) {
    this.name = name;
}
</syntaxhighlight>

If there are many such fields, the result can easily be hundreds of lines of code with very little "interesting" content – code folding can reduce this to a single line per field, or even to a single line for all fields. Further, if all routine fields are folded, but non-routine fields (where getter or setter is not just returning or assigning a private field) are not folded, it becomes easier to see the substantive code.