[workingandtired]

It's a C-style language syntax option. If it's only a single line in after the if, the braces are optional. I've also seen it in C++ and PHP.

Whether or not it's sloppy is up for debate and just a matter of personal preference.

[Someone]

"If it's only a single line in after the if, the braces are optional."

Not _line_, _statement_. Consider

  if(flag)
    foo(); bar();

and

  if(flag)
    foo =
      bar +
      baz;

That first example always calls bar().

Warning: I haven't tested this, and am beginning to doubt a bit. It must be correct, but why, then, don't I remember seeing this in underhanded C contests? Combining that with macros allows you to hide the semicolon.

[solistice]

C# also has it, and i've heard Java has got it as well, but I've never tested it in the latter.

I personally like being able to do it since it allows me to do away with the 2 extra lines auto indent puts in if i add brackets. That's a 50% reduction for a 4 line if. Maybe I should just buy a bigger monitor.

[seanmcdirmid]

I use a plugin called littlebrace for visual studio, which reduces brace lines to like 3 pt font. My C# code has started looking like Python :)

[TheEzEzz]

This sounds really neat. Can you drop a link? I browsed around but couldn't find anything.

[vacri]

https://github.com/lukesdm/little-braces looks like the one.

[seanmcdirmid]

Also see this fork/port to VS2013:

https://github.com/owen2/little-braces

Also, it is available from the online add-in manager if you search for "little braces." The VS2013 community edition is just in time :)

I couple it with the indent guideline plugin for best effect (braces are super small, light lines to track indent level, 2 space indent...).

[workingandtired]

The lead programmer at my last job encouraged us to use it as a way to make sure our conditionals & foreach loops (PHP programmer) weren't doing too much. If we had to use braces, it was a sign to check it out and see if it could stand some refactoring.

[MichaelGG]

Or use a better bracing style. Or move to significant whitespace.