Coding Standards.md

Naming

• Use camel case for class names: MyUsefulClass
• Functions, methods, variables and parameters use camel case and begin with a lowercase character: void myUsefulFunction(const int aHelpfulParameter);
• Private fields are prefixed with m_
• Constants use camel case and begin with an uppercase character: static const int ThisIsAConstant = 1;

Formatting

• Indent with 4 spaces, no tabs
• No extra lines for opening braces:

  namespace … {
  class … {
  if (…) {
  …
  

• Use braces for 1-statement if / else blocks:

  if (…) {
      doThis();
  } else {
      doThat();
  }
  

• No inline if statements such as if (…) doThis();
• Avoid header files that declare more than one class

Types

• Only use auto when the type is obvious from surrounding visible code, e.g.:

  std::vector<Assets::Texture*> textures;
  …
  for (auto* texture : textures) {
      …
  

  Also OK: auto textureCount = static_cast<int>(textures.size());

• Don't do: auto mods = document->mods();

  Instead, do: StringList mods = document->mods();

• The codebase often uses aliases for templates, vectors and smart pointers, e.g.:

  using vec3d = vec<double,3>;
  using MyClassList = std::vector<MyClass>;
  using MyClassPtr = std::shared_ptr<MyClass>;
  using String = std::string;
  

  Use these where they already exist, but for new code, use std::vector<MyNewClass> and std::shared_ptr<MyNewClass> directly, and only create aliases for verbose or deeply nested types. e.g.:

  using IntToListOfStringPairs = std::map<int, std::vector<std::pair<String, String>>>;
  

Features

• We use C++17
• The entire source code and test cases must compile without warnings.
• Everything that can be const should be const: methods, parameters and variables.
• Use RAII where possible.
• Avoid raw pointers unless they are confined to a method, class, or subsystem. Don't return raw pointers from public methods. Favor references and smart pointers over raw pointers.