coding-standard.md

Coding Standard

Naming Conventions

Namespace

• snake_case

namespace example {}
namespace hive_example {}

Classes and Structs

• PascalCase

class Example;
class HiveExample;

Functions and Methods

• camelCase

void example() {}
void hiveExample() {}

Attributes

• m_snake_case

class Example {
private:
    int m_example;
    int m_hive_example;
}

Variables

• snake_case

int example;
int hive_example;

Constants

• ALL_CAPS

const int EXAMPLE = 1;
const int HIVE_EXAMPLE = 0;

Header Files

Forward Declaration

• Use foward declarations when possible to reduce dependencies. This minimize the need for including full header files, which can reduce compilation time and decrease dependencies which make it easier to maintain

Include Guards

• Always use include guard or #pragma once in header files to prevent multiple inclusion of the same file

Header File Content

• Should only declare classes, structs and functions. Their implementation should be in their associated .cpp file

General Coding Practices

const and constexpr

• Use const and constexpr where they are appropriate. This improve code safety and optimization

Smart Pointers

• Prefer smart pointers to automatically manage memory, reducing the rick of memory leaks and dangling pointers. You must be careful when using smart pointer that have a destructor on static variable since they might depend on something that is already shutdown

Namespace

• Avoid using using namespace std; in headers files

Error

• Avoid throwing error, instead manage them and return an error code as an enum or other value. It would also be useful to use the Logging system to log what went wrong