Difference between revisions of "Code style guidelines"

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=== General Guidelines ===
 
=== General Guidelines ===
For everybody elses' sanity, please just use something that resembles [https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/CodingStyle the Linux Kernel code style], with the exception that cases in switch statements are indented a level.  Much of the already existing code is somewhat weird looking, do not try to replicate that.  Use your best judgement for C++-specific syntax.
+
For everybody elses' sanity, please just use something that resembles [https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/CodingStyle the Linux Kernel code style], with the exception that cases in switch statements are indented a level.  Much of the already existing code is somewhat weird looking and breaks the current code guidelines, do not try to replicate that.  Use your best judgement for C++-specific syntax.
 
=== Spaces ===
 
=== Spaces ===
 
* Do NOT use spaces for indentation
 
* Do NOT use spaces for indentation

Revision as of 19:08, 9 March 2013

General Guidelines

For everybody elses' sanity, please just use something that resembles the Linux Kernel code style, with the exception that cases in switch statements are indented a level. Much of the already existing code is somewhat weird looking and breaks the current code guidelines, do not try to replicate that. Use your best judgement for C++-specific syntax.

Spaces

  • Do NOT use spaces for indentation
  • Try to stay under 6 levels of indentation
  • Do add spaces between operators so they line up when appropriate (don't go overboard). For example:
np_terrain_base   = settings->getNoiseParams("mgv6_np_terrain_base");
np_terrain_higher = settings->getNoiseParams("mgv6_np_terrain_higher");
np_steepness      = settings->getNoiseParams("mgv6_np_steepness");
np_height_select  = settings->getNoiseParams("mgv6_np_height_select");
...
bool success =
	np_terrain_base  && np_terrain_higher && np_steepness &&
	np_height_select && np_trees          && np_mud       &&
	np_beach         && np_biome          && np_cave;

The above code looks really nice.

  • Separate different parts of functions with newlines for readability
  • Separate functions by two newlines (not necessary, but encouraged)

Don't be too C++y

  • Don't use references when they're not necessary. They are rather inflexible and can be misleading.
  • Don't use initializer lists unless absolutely necessary (initializing an object inside a class, or initializing a reference)
  • Try to avoid operator overloading
  • Avoid iterators like the plague
  • Avoid templates unless very convenient

Classes

  • Don't put actual code in header files, unless it's a 3-liner or an inline function
  • Class definitions should go in header files
  • Substantial (over 4 LoC) methods are defined outside of the class definition
  • Class names are PascalCase, method names are camelCase
  • Functions not part of any class should be unix_lowercase_underscore_style()

Comments

  • Don't make uninformative comments like this:
/*
	Draw "Loading" screen
*/

draw_load_screen(L"Loading...", driver, font);
  • Add comments to explain a non-trivial but important detail about the code, or explain behavior that is not obvious

Use STL, avoid Irrlicht containers

Don't let things get too large

  • Try to keep lines under 80 characters. It's okay if it goes over by a few, but 90 character lines or larger are definitely unacceptable.
  • Functions should not be over 200 LoC - if you are concerned with having to pass too many parameters to child functions, make whatever it is into a class
  • Don't let files get too large (over 1500 LoC)
  • Currently existing huge files (game.cpp, server.cpp, etc.) are in the slow process of being cleaned up