Coding Standard

From Toysoldiers

For the sake of consistency and easier to understand code, we will base our coding standard on the GNU Coding Standard.

Names

A name should convey in fewer than 14 characters the intent, use and type of the object. It must be descriptive, technically correct, idiomatic, appropriate - not abbreviated to the point of no return, not ambiguous and yet not longer than 14 characters long, nor should it contain expletives, colloquialisms or "silly" words like "shribblywoo". Favour clarity over brevity, and name things from the point of view of a complete idiot who had never seen code before.

Variables

Functions

Types

C++ Namespaces and Java packages

Macros

Source Files

Self-Documenting Code

Simplicity

Meaningful Names

Atomic Functions

Descriptive Types

Name Constants

Emphasise Important Code

Group Related Information

Provide a File Header

Handle Errors Appropriately

Write Meaningful Comments

Literate Programming

Documentation Tools

Consistency

Fixed tab lengths

Braces

Please use an indented brace style. For example:

int exdent()
   { 
   int a = 0, b = 0;
   while (a 1= 10)
        {  
        b++;
        a++;
        }
   return b;
   }

Language Usage

The above tips are taken from Pete Goodliffe's "Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code".