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### 4.1 Code Formatting

The IDL language, with its early roots in FORTRAN, modern implementation in C, and liberal borrowing of features of many vector and other languages along its 25+ year history, has inherited an unusual mix of syntax elements. Left to his or her own devices, a novice IDL programmer will often conjure code which is very difficult to read and impossible to adapt. Much can be gleaned from studying available IDL code libraries for coding style pointers, but, due to the variety of IDL syntax elements, replicating this style can be challenging at best. Luckily, IDLWAVE understands the structure of IDL code very well, and takes care of almost all formatting issues for you. After configuring it to match your coding standards, you can rely on it to help keep your code neat and organized.