I could swear I\'ve seen people typing function headers and then hitting some key combination to auto-create function braces and insert the cursor between them like so:
It can be achieved by using code snippets, some are already built in (try typing "svm" and hitting TAB-TAB)..
There's a wealth of info on the net on creating these:
Jeff did a post himself here
Have a google! I use them LOTS! :D