I have always wondered about this, especially in C/Java style languages. For example, consider the first 3 lines of this C# code: lock (serviceLock) using (var client = new ServiceClient()) try { // Do something client.DoSomething(); } catch (System.ServiceModel.FaultException ex) { // Handle error addLog(ex.ToString()); } This usage has always seemed somewhat questionable to me. However, the alternative is not very pretty either (3+ levels deep of indentation for a service call). What is the best practice for Maximum Readability?