CS2141 Style Guidelines

Outline

• Be consistent!
• Comments
  • Each file must begin with a comment block that has the filename, your name, which assignment the file is for, and a brief description of what is in the file.
  • Each class header must begin with a comment block describing the purpose of the class.
  • Each function must begin with short comment block. The block should briefly describe the function, list and describe all parameters, and describe the return value, if anything.
  • There should be line comments within the code itself for the reader to understand what's going on.  If I can't follow the overall structure of your code, and there are no comments to help me, it's wrong.
• Indentation
  • Indentations must always be 4 spaces per "level" of indentation.  Most text editors will let you change this.
  • DO NOT USE TABS!  Tabs vary depending on the editor, and will cause me much grief when grading.
  • The private:, public:, and protected: keywords in a class should be aligned with the word class
  • if statements: indent the code 4 spaces under the if.
  • if-else statements: the else must always be aligned under the if.
  • for, while, and do loops: always indent the body of the loop.
  • See Indentation for an example.
• Other things
  • Brackets { }:
  • A starting bracket should be at the end of the statement which it associates with.
  • The ending bracket should be aligned with that statement.
  • Always use brackets with multi-line if statements and loops.
  • Do not use brackets with in-line if statements or loops.
  • When using an if-else statement, the else or else if should be immediately after the closing bracket (with the next opening bracket at the end of that line).  An else-if statement should always use brackets.
  • A one line function may use brackets on the same line (after the function declaration).  The width of the line is still limited to 80 characters.
  • Keep the code readable.
  • Choose meaningful identifier names - single letters are only to be used for loop indexes.
  • Use whitespace between operators (except "()", "[]", ".", "->", and unary operators: "++", "--", "&" (reference operator), and "*" (pointer dereference)).  See White Space for examples of correct and incorrect usage.
  • Limit the length of a line to 80 characters so there is no wraparound if we print your code. Break your lines apart in clear ways, using whitespace and variations on indention.
  • Include a line break at the end of each file (very important for precompiler statements
  • If using the ?: operator (the only trinary operator), use two white spaces before and after each of the operator characters.  Also, the condition should be in parenthases.
  • Do NOT use templates (unless specified by the assignment)

Details

• Comments
• White Space
• Indentation
• Example