Yes, that is a great example of something that falls flat in a proportional font or without using column alignment.
My only suggestion is to be more generous with whitespace inside the parentheses:
const neighbors =
get( x - 1, y - 1, w, h, prev ) +
get( x, y - 1, w, h, prev ) +
get( x + 1, y - 1, w, h, prev ) +
get( x - 1, y, w, h, prev ) +
get( x + 1, y, w, h, prev ) +
get( x - 1, y + 1, w, h, prev ) +
get( x, y + 1, w, h, prev ) +
get( x + 1, y + 1, w, h, prev )
I don't quite understand why, but most modern coding styles prohibit ever putting a space inside the parens. I think the common philosophy is to follow the same conventions you would when writing English prose. But we're not writing prose, we're writing code! To me it is more readable if we allow a little breathing room inside the parens.
I adopted this style for a while (I mostly code individual and personal projects so I’m not obliged to follow style-guides) but reverted back…
This looks better in monochrome text but usually the editor colors allow a fast distinction of the parentheses, variables and literals so the extra space is not needed for me.
My only suggestion is to be more generous with whitespace inside the parentheses:
I don't quite understand why, but most modern coding styles prohibit ever putting a space inside the parens. I think the common philosophy is to follow the same conventions you would when writing English prose. But we're not writing prose, we're writing code! To me it is more readable if we allow a little breathing room inside the parens.