Coding Standards for High-Quality Software

Adhering to consistent coding standards is crucial for maintainability, readability, and collaboration within development teams. This document outlines recommended coding standards for C#, C++, and JavaScript projects.

General Principles

  • Readability: Code should be easy to understand for humans.
  • Consistency: Apply standards uniformly across all projects and files.
  • Simplicity: Avoid unnecessary complexity.
  • Maintainability: Write code that is easy to modify and debug.
  • Testability: Design code with automated testing in mind.

Naming Conventions

Use descriptive and meaningful names for variables, functions, classes, and other code elements. Avoid abbreviations unless they are universally understood.

  • PascalCase: For class names, method names, properties, and public fields.
  • camelCase: For local variables and private fields.
  • UPPERCASE_SNAKE_CASE: For constants.

Formatting and Indentation

Consistent indentation and spacing improve code readability significantly.

  • Use 4 spaces for indentation.
  • Place opening braces on the same line as the statement.
  • Use consistent spacing around operators and keywords.

Comments and Documentation

Write clear and concise comments. Document public APIs using standard documentation comment formats.

/// <summary>
/// Calculates the factorial of a non-negative integer.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="n">The non-negative integer.</param>
/// <returns>The factorial of n.</returns>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">Thrown if n is negative.</exception>
public static int Factorial(int n)
{
    if (n < 0)
    {
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(n), "Input must be non-negative.");
    }
    // ... implementation
    return 1;
}

Error Handling

Implement robust error handling. Use exceptions for exceptional circumstances and return codes for expected error conditions.

try
{
    // Potentially failing operation
    PerformOperation();
}
catch (SpecificException ex)
{
    LogError(ex, "Operation failed.");
    // Handle the specific exception
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    LogError(ex, "An unexpected error occurred.");
    // Handle general exceptions
    throw; // Re-throw if necessary
}

Language-Specific Guidelines

C#

  • Use LINQ for data manipulation where appropriate.
  • Leverage async/await for asynchronous operations.
  • Prefer `var` for local variable type inference when the type is obvious.

JavaScript

  • Use ES6+ features (e.g., `let`, `const`, arrow functions, template literals).
  • Follow Airbnb's JavaScript Style Guide or a similar established standard.
  • Prefer Promises or async/await over callbacks for asynchronous code.

Code Reviews

Regular code reviews are essential for enforcing standards, sharing knowledge, and catching potential issues early. Ensure that reviews are constructive and focused on improvement.

Further Reading