Editing GNU coding standards (section)

== Criticism ==

The GNU coding standards are primarily used by GNU projects, though its use is not limited to GNU projects alone.

The [[Linux kernel]] strongly discourages this style for kernel code, and refers to the style pejoratively: "First off, I’d suggest printing out a copy of the GNU coding standards, and NOT read it. Burn them, it’s a great symbolic gesture.".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v4.10/process/coding-style.html|title=Linux kernel coding style — The Linux Kernel documentation|website=www.kernel.org|language=en|access-date=2017-10-12}}</ref> [[Steve McConnell]], in his book [[Code Complete]], also advises against using this style; he marks a code sample which uses it with a "Coding Horror" icon, symbolizing especially dangerous code, and states that it impedes readability by requiring an extra level of indentation for braces.<ref>{{cite book |title=Code Complete: A practical handbook of software construction |last=McConnell |first=Steve |publisher=Microsoft Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-7356-1967-0 |location=Redmond, WA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/codecomplete0000mcco/page/746 746–747] |author-link=Steve McConnell |url=https://archive.org/details/codecomplete0000mcco/page/746 }}</ref>