Coding Standards
From setiquest wiki
The source code for setiQuest and SonATA projects shall follow the following style guidlines.
Source code files should contain this header
/******************************************************************************* File: <file name> Project: <project name> Authors: <authors> Copyright 2011 The SETI Institute <project name> is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. <project name> is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with OpenSonATA. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. Implementers of this code are requested to include the caption "Licensed through SETI" with a link to setiQuest.org. For alternate licensing arrangements, please contact The SETI Institute at www.seti.org or setiquest.org. *******************************************************************************/
Note: Tags such as <file name> are replaced with the tag value, such at "waterfallDisplay.java" (without the brackets or quotes).
Source code files should contain a brief explanation
The comments at the top of a source code file, after the licensing header mentioned above, should contain a brief explanation of what functionality the source code provides.
Tabs are not used for indentation
printf("hello world"); // correct
printf("hello world"); // incorrect
Some common sense required here: Where \s is a space, and \t is a tab. In this example, space after the \s and \t annotations, and the annotations themselves have been used for illustration; these should not be included in the actual code.
Also, you should configure your editor to automatically convert tabs entered to spaces. A tab should be 4 spaces.
Class, struct, and enum names are PascalCase and NOT prefixed
class MyClass { }; // class prefix is NOT C
struct MyStruct { }; // struct prefix is NOT C
enum MyEnum { }; // enum prefix is NOT E
Member, and enum constant names are (lower) camelCase
class MyClass
{
public:
void helloWorld();
};
Member variables (public and private) begin with m_
class MyClass
{
public:
MyClass* m_myClass1;
private:
MyClass* m_myClass2;
};
Enum constants are prefixed with k
enum MyEnum
{
kValue1,
kValue2
};
Static variables are prefixed with s_
static MyClass* s_myClass;
Comments and debug messages need not be grammatically correct
// i'm using bad grammar. but i like to use full stops DEBUG((CLOG_INFO "hello world"));
Multiline comments use single-line commenting (//)
// for long block comments, instead of using the slash asterisk // comments, we use the two-slash comments
Function return types must go on the same line as the function name
// correct
int MyClass::helloWorld()
{
}
// incorrect
int
MyClass::helloWorld()
{
}
For functions, curly braces start on the next line after the function name
// correct
int MyClass::helloWorld()
{
// ...
}
// incorrect
int MyClass::helloWorld() {
// ...
}
For conditional statements, curly braces start on the next line
// correct
if (a == b)
{
// ...
}
// correct
for (int i = 0; i < a; i++)
{
// ...
}
// incorrect
if (a == b) {
// ...
}
// incorrect
for (int i = 0; i < a; i++) {
// ...
}
A space is used between operators and operands
// correct
a == b;
if (c == d)
{
}
// incorrect
a=b;
if (c==d)
{
}
No space is inserted after or before conditions within parenthesis
// correct
if (a == b)
{
// ...
}
// incorrect
if ( a == b )
{
// ...
}
The void keyword is not used for functions that do not take parameters
// correct void helloWorld(); // incorrect void helloWorld(void);
The const keyword is used regularly
class MyClass
{
public:
const char* helloWorld();
};
MyClass::MyClass(const char* helloWorld)
{
}
Spaces must exist between conditional statement parenthesis and the keyword
// correct
if (a == b)
{
}
// incorrect
if(a == b)
{
}
No spaces between type and reference and pointer operator
// correct char* helloWorld; // incorrect char *helloWorld;
Pre-processor commands within #if are indented
// correct #if HELLO_WORLD # include "HellWorld.h" #endif // incorrect #if HELLO_WORLD #include "HellWorld.h" #endif
Pointers and references do not have prefixes
// correct MyClass* myClass1 = new MyClass(); MyClass& myClass2 = *myClass1; // incorrect MyClass* p_myClass1 = new MyClass(); MyClass& p_myClass2 = *p_myClass1; // incorrect MyClass* pMyClass1 = new MyClass(); MyClass& pMyClass2 = *pMyClass1;
The left comparator operand is a variable
// correct
if (a == "hello world")
{
}
// incorrect
if ("hello world" == a)
{
}
The else statement always goes on a new line
// correct
if (a == b)
{
// ...
}
else
{
// ...
}
// incorrect
if (a == b)
{
// ...
} else
{
// ...
}
Constant names are upper case
C/C++:
#define MAX_BYTES 200
Java:
public static final int MAX_BYTES 200;
These guidelines were adapted from http://synergy-foss.org/pm/projects/synergy/wiki/CodeStyle. Thank you!
