source: trunk/CodingStyle.txt@ 1803

Coding Style Guidelines
========================

Line lengths

  Try to keep lines less than 80 characters.

  Break lines after logical separators.

  Vertically align like constructs.

    func(arg1,
         arg2);

Indents

  Place function definition { in column 1

  Place function definition } in column 1

  Indent nested constructs by 2 characters

  void func()
  {
    statement;
    if (expr)
      statement2;
  }

Tabs

  Use only 8 column tabs.

Layouts

  if (expr)
    statement;

  // If expr and statement are brief single line is OK.
  if (expr) statement;

  // If statement is long, split logically and use braces.
  if (expr) {
    statement_part1...
      restoflongstatement;
  }

  if (expr)
    statement;
  else
    statement2;

  if (expr1) {
    statement1;
    statement2;
  }
  else if (expr2) {
  }
  else {
  }

  // If expression wrapped, align like constructs vertically.
  if (expr1 &&
      expr2))
  {
  }

  // Prefer expression sense that places shorter statement list first.
  if (!expr)
    ReportError();
  else {
    statement1;
    ...;
    statementn;
  }

  while (expr) {
  }

  for (expr; expr; expr) {
  }

  typedef struct {

  } TYPENAME;

Variable definitions

  Define one variable per line.  They are easier to find and understand.

    INT a;
    INT *pb;

  not

    INT a,*b;

Variable naming

  Prefer Hungarian notation and CamelCaps for global variables.

    BOOL fAGlobalFlag;

  Prefer lower case and underscores for local variables.

    BOOL is_ok;

  Local variables can be short as long as meaning is clear.

    BOOL ok;

  Underscores can be omitted if name remains readable.

    USHORT maxcnt;

Spaces

  Separate keywords from leading paren with 1 space.

    if (expr) statement;

  No spaces between function name and leading paren.
  No spaces between last arg and trailing paren.

    func()

  Follow separating commas and semicolons with a space.

    x = func(a, c)

  Surround binary operators with a leading and trailing spaces.

    x = a + b

  Try to avoid spurious internal and trailing whitespace.

Expressions

  Do not use superfluous parens.

  Prefer

    return 0;

  to

    return (0);

  Do not use superfluous parens when operator precedence will do the
  right thing.

  Prefer

    if (a & mask && c)

  to

    if ((a & mask) && c)

  Avoid nested ternary conditionals (i.e. ? :).  They are hard to read and
  rarely generate better code than switch or if statement.

Commenting code

  Prefer javadoc style comments for function headers.

  When usings // comments, // should be followed by a space.

  Avoid using /* */ comments to disable code.  They can be hard to see.

Disabling code

  When disabling multiple lines of code, prefer

    #if 0
    #endif

  to

    /*
    */

  comments or // comments.

  When disabling multiple lines of code, it is acceptable to use // comments
  to disable a single line.  The // should be followed by a trailing space

    // DbgMsg("here");

Memory

 - Check all malloc/realloc/strdup/DosAllocMem calls
   Use xmalloc in non-time critical code
   Use xrealloc in non-time critical code
   Use xstrdup in non-time critical code

 - Use xfree rather than free

 - If buffer overflow possible, check for it.

Windows

 - Check all WinCreateWindow calls
 - Check QWL_USER pointer data

Error notifications

  DosBeep(50,100)       Alert user to operator error
                        Use only when failure reason is obvious

  saymsg                Alert user to operator error with popup

  Runtime_Error         Report "should not occur" errors
  Dos_Error
  Win_Error

$Id: CodingStyle.txt 1779 2014-06-26 22:32:51Z stevenhl $