In my early years developing software, when presented with an opportunity to beautify code and comments, especially tables I would. I’ve even have people use my code as an example to others. I take pride in everything I do. I treat my code like the cutlery drawer – I don’t just throw knives, forks and spoons in a draw, there are compartments and all the forks are the same way up, as are the knives and the spoons. For me, code is the same. When you eat don’t they say you eat with your eyes? Doesn’t food taste better when it’s presented well? Does the same apply to software?

But time is money, and I’m challenging myself about the value of keeping things just too neat. So, is this…

| property | type    |
| width    | integer |
| height   | integer |

Better than this…

| property | type |
| width | integer |
| height | integer |

I used to think the former. But now? No. Especially when you add rows and you find that the positions of the vertical bars constantly need adjusting. When the table gets larger, are you really going to spend time constantly adjusting the columns? I used to. But no more. Especially when I have a table like the former and then have to add this…

| perception_depth | decimal |

Now my table looks like this…

| property | type |
| width | integer |
| height | integer |
| perception_depth | decimal |

I can’t justify the time to keep adjusting the columns any more.