C++ Style Rules for 420-406-AB

Style refers to things such as

· Indenting code

· Picking meaningful name for variables

· Writing one declaration per line

The purpose of using a consistent and good programming style is to make your program easy to read.

A program that is easy to read

· is easy to make changes to, and

· has fewer errors

SR-1	Do not submit listings with wrapped lines in them. To print your source code, read it into a word processor, adjust the margins and as required change the font size so no lines are wrapped. Use a fixed width font such as Courier. If lines of code are very long you might have to print in landscape.
SR-3	Begin the program with a very brief description of what the program does (not of how the program works.) Writing a program description that is wrong or misleading is even worse than not writing a description at all.
SR-4	Write code that can be read and understood quickly without any extra documentation. If necessary, add a few comments to explain what your code is doing.
SR-5	Don't code comments that state the obvious. E.g. x = 0; // Assigns 0 to x
SR-6	Separate pieces of code with blank lines. E.g. Code blank lines before and after a group of #include statements. Code blank lines before and after a group of constant declarations. Code blank lines before and after a group of function prototypes. Code blank lines before and after a group of variable declarations.
SR-7	Do not yell!! in messages.
SR-8	Don't use global variables.
SR-9	Variable identifiers begin with a lowercase letter. E.g. count
SR-10	Run the words in multiword identifiers together. The 2nd and subsequent words begin with a capital letter. E.g. parenthesesCounter ageEmployee countStudents

SR-11

Code a symbolic name for filenames, array dimensions, and mathematical constants. E.g.

const char FILENAME[] = "a:data.txt";

const int MAX_SIZE_NAME = 40;

const double PI = 3.142;

SR-12

Constant identifiers are coded in all uppercase. E.g.

const int MAX_INT = 2147483647;

const double PI = 3.142;

const int MAX_SIZE_NAME = 30;

enum ColourType { RED, GREEN, BLUE};

(Exceptions: true, false)

SR-13

Code multiword identifiers for constants by separating the words with underlines. E.g.

PI_SQUARED

SR-14

Place symbolic name declarations at the top of the source file, above main()

SR-15

Type identifiers begin with an uppercase letter. E.g.

typedef char[MAX_SIZE_NAME+1] NameType;

struct PointType

{

double x;

double y;

}

class StackType

{

...

}

(Exception: built-in types e.g. char, int)

SR-16

Code only one declaration per line. E.g.

int i, j;

è

int i; int j;

SR-17

Use one or other of the two following styles. Do NOT mix the two styles.

Function identifiers begin with a lowercase letter. E.g. max() areaOfCircle() Constructor identifiers begin with an uppercase letter.

Function and constructor identifiers begin with an uppercase letter. E.g. Max() AreaOfCircle() (Exception: main(), standard library functions e.g. strlen())

SR-18

Code meaningful identifiers for variables, constants, types, and functions. E.g.

closingSymbol

PI

NodeType

Sort()

Do not use long vague identifiers such as 'subscript'

Choosing a misleading identifier name is even worse that coding a meaningless name.

When an identifier is not meaningful (e.g. i) add a comment that describes the identifier's purpose. E.g.

int i; // index to client[]

SR-19

Code a space on each side of the following operators.

Bit shift operators "<<", ">>". ("<<" and ">>" are also used for stream extraction and stream insertion respectively.) E.g.

cin >> xPos;

Multiplication "*", division "/" , and modulus "%" operators. E.g.

area = height * width;

Initialization operator "=". E.g.

int xPos = 10;

Assignment operators "=, +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, >>=, <<=, &= ^=, |=" E.g..

nClient = 45;

Binary logical operators "&& ||"

Binary bit string operators "& |"

SR-20

Code a space between the keywords for control structures and the following opening bracket "(". E.g.

while ( i < n )

...;

for ( i = 0; i < n; i++ )

...;

if ( i < n )

...;

switch ( ch ) {

case '(' :

...;

...;

break;

case ')' :

...;

...;

break;

}

SR-21

Code a space after the ";" separators in a for loop header. E.g.

for ( i = 0; i < n; i++ )

...;

SR-22

Align a function's opening and closing braces. E.g.

int Min( ... )

{

...

}

SR-23

Either use the classical style for positioning control structure's opening and closing braces " { } " or align the opening and closing braces. Do NOT mix the two styles. E.g.

classical style
if ( ... ) { ... ... } else { ... ... }	if ( ... ) { ... ... } else { ... ... }
while ( ... ) { ... ... }	while ( ... ) { ... ... }
switch ( ... ) { case 1: ... break; case 2: ... break; default: ... }	switch ( ... ) { case 1: ... break; case 2: ... break; default: ... }

SR-24

Indent nested control structures by a minimum of 2 ( 3 or 4 recommended) character positions. E.g.

while ( ... )

{

if ( ... )

{

...;

for ( ...; ...; ...)

...;

...;

}

...;

}

Be consistent in your indentation. E.g. Always indent in multiples of 3 spaces.

SR-25

if ( isalpha(ch) != 0 ) à if ( isalpha(ch) ) , or

if ( isalpha(ch) == true )

if ( isalpha(ch) == 0 ) à if ( !isalpha(ch) ) , or

if ( isalpha(ch) == false )

SR-26

Do not combine a declaration of a struct type with a definition of a variable of that type. E.g.

struct EmployeeType

{

char name[MAX_SIZE_NAME+1];

double salary;

} leadProgrammer;

à

struct EmployeeType

{

char name[MAX_SIZE_NAME+1];

double salary;

};

EmployeeType leadProgrammer;

SR-27

Avoid anonymous (unnamed) struct types. E.g.

struct

{

char name[MAX_SIZE_NAME+1];

double salary;

} leadProgrammer;

à

struct EmployeeType

{

char name[MAX_SIZE_NAME+1];

double salary;

};

EmployeeType leadProgrammer;