---------------------------- ManaPlus Hacking Guide ---------------------------- With multiple coders working on the same source files, there needs to be a standard specifying how code is written down. Not doing so can cause quite some annoyance for certain coders and easily creates more version conflicts than necessary. * Indentation: Code is indented using 4 spaces, no tabs. * Line length: Should not exceed 79 characters. One reason for this is to keep code readable. In such cases it would often be better to spread the line over multiple lines or use some extra temporary variables. Another reason is that some of us are using editors that default to an 80 character wide screen, and often put two instances next to eachother. 79 character wide lines leave just a spot for the cursor at the end of the line. * Control constructs like this: Good: if (condition) { } else { } for (init; condition; step) { } while (condition) { } /** * Documentation about behaviour * ... * * @param param1 the first argument * @param param2 the second argument */ void function(param1, param2) { } class TheClass : public TheSubclass { }; When there is only one statement you may leave out the braces, but don't place the statement on the same line as the condition: Good: if (condition) statement; Bad: if (condition) statement; * Includes: Source files should include their header first, to make sure the headers are self-contained. After that follow other project includes, grouped by directory and alphabetically ordered. System includes come last. All project includes are done relative from the 'src' directory. Good (subdirectory/source.cpp): #include "subdirectory/header.h" #include "somesub/bar.h" #include "somesub/zaro.h" #include <systemlib.h> * Comments: Single line C++ style comments are indented the same as the previous line. Good: // comment Multiple line C style comments are initially indented like previous line except every new line of the comment begins with a asterisk ('*') which lines up with the initial asterisk of the comment opening (1 space indent). The comment is closed also with the asterisk lining up. Comment text is only placed on a line starting with a asterisk. Good: /* * Some comment * additional comment material */ Bad: /* text comment */ Note that for documenting functions, methods and other things that can use documentation, you should use Doxygen style as in the function example above. For details see the manual at http://www.doxygen.org/. * Whitespace examples: Good: x = ((5 + 4) * 3) / 1.5; afunction(12, 3, (1 + 1)); Bad: x = ( ( 5 + 4 ) * 3 ) / 1.5; afunction(12,3,(1+1)); * Method, class, member and constant naming is based on the generally accepted way Java code is written. Class: CapitalizedWords Method: camelCase Member: mCamelCase Constant/enum: UPPERCASE_UNDERSCORES To denote global variables and functions the lowercase_underscores style may be used. Hungarian style should be avoided. * Whenever you add a new source file somewhere in ./src do not forget to add them in ./src/Makefile.am as well!