C++_CODING_GUIDELINES.md

C++ Coding Guidelines

Most of the sections in these guidelines are adapted from the Google C++ Style Guide. Only those sections that are relevant to this project have been included here. You can read the complete guide to know more of the good practises of writing C++ code.

This document is not yet complete.

Contents

• Naming
  • General naming rules
• Formatting
  • Tabs vs. Spaces
  • Horizontal whitespace
• Compiling

Naming

General naming rules

• Give as descriptive a name as possible, within reason.

• Do not use abbreviations that are ambiguous or unfamiliar to readers outside your project, and do not abbreviate by deleting letters within a word.

• Certain universally-known abbreviations are OK, such as i for an iteration variable and T for a template parameter.

Good

int price_count_reader;    // No abbreviation.
int num_errors;            // "num" is a widespread convention.
int num_dns_connections;   // Most people know what "DNS" stands for.

Bad

int n;                     // Meaningless.
int nerr;                  // Ambiguous abbreviation.
int n_comp_conns;          // Ambiguous abbreviation.
int wgc_connections;       // Only your group knows what this stands for.
int pc_reader;             // Lots of things can be abbreviated "pc".
int cstmr_id;              // Deletes internal letters.

Formatting

Tabs vs. Spaces

Use soft tabs that are 4 spaces long. 😁

Horizontal whitespace

General rules

• Never put trailing whitespace at the end of a line.

• Open braces should always have a space before them.

  void f(bool b) {
      ...

• Semicolons usually have no space before them.

  int i = 0;

• Spaces inside braces for braced-init-list are optional. If you use them, put them on both sides!

  int x[] = { 0 };
  int y[] = {0};

• Spaces around the colon in inheritance and initializer lists.

  class Foo : public Bar {
      public:
          // For inline function implementations, put spaces between the braces
          // and the implementation itself.
          Foo(int b) : Bar(), baz_(b) {}  // No spaces inside empty braces.
          void Reset() { baz_ = 0; }      // Spaces separating braces from implementation.
          ...
  }

Operators

• Assignment operators always have spaces around them.

  x = 0;

• Other binary operators usually have spaces around them, but it's OK to remove spaces around factors. Also, parentheses should have no internal padding.

  v = w * x + y / z;
  v = w*x + y/z;
  v = w * (x + z);

• No spaces separating unary operators and their arguments.

  x = -5;
  ++y;
  z = !y;

Compiling

Since many of the C++ programs in this repo use new features of C++11 (like range-based for-loops and more), you will need to use the -std=c++11 flag if you are compiling using the CLI. If you use an IDE, make sure to set the standard as C++11 in your compiler settings.

Also make sure there are no warnings during compilation by setting the -Wall flag and checking that nothing gets reported, if using the CLI. If using an IDE, make sure to check the "Enable all warnings" option for your compiler.

Example

If you are in the Sorting directory, and want to compile the code for merge sort, run the following command:

g++ -std=c++11 -Wall -o MergeSort.out MergeSort.cpp

Instead of g++, you may use other compilers like gcc, clang, clang++, MinGW (Windows) or Visual C++ (Windows). Just make sure that they support C++11 features.