CodingGuidelines.txt

Coding Guidelines for OpenDaVINCI
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1. General Remarks

1.1 Spacing.
1.1.1 Do not use tabs; use 4 spaces instead.
1.1.2 Do not modify the default compiler settings as declared in the CMakeLists.txt.

1.2 Keyword const.
1.2.1 Use const whenever possible to let the compiler warn about unintended use: void myMethod(const uint32_t &parameter) const;

1.3 Private copy constructor and assignment operator.
1.3.1 Always define a copy constructor and an assignment operator (no implementation required) and declare them as private to let the compiler warn you about unintended use.

1.4 Pointers and references.
1.4.1 Use const references as preferred interface to your method, e.g.: void myMethod(const uint32_t &parameter);
1.4.2 Whenever you create a new pointer, wrap it into a C++ unique_ptr<T> if you are sure that your pointer will NOT be shared outside your method's or class' scope.
1.4.3 Whenever you create a new pointer that is shared outside your method's or class' scope, wrap it into a std::shared_ptr<T>.

1.5 Exception handling.
1.5.1 Use exception handling sparsely (might be removed in future version).
1.5.2 Always catch by reference and throw by value.

1.6 Namespaces.
1.6.1 It is okay to specify using namespace std; with the nested namespaces in a header.
1.6.2 Other namespaces must not be specified in header files and full namespace must be included in class names and the like to avoid name clashing.

1.7 Types.
1.7.1 Primitive data types (boolean, integral, floating point types) must be explicit like uint32_t (cf. stdint.h for details); avoid using types like int or long as their dimensions might vary on different platforms.


2. Branching.

2.1 Refactoring/Maintenance branches.
2.1.1 Refactoring and maintenance need to be carried out in a new maintenance branch; its name shall be YYYYQq.refactoring.WHAT.WHERE. Example: 2015Q3.refactoring.pointers.wrapper.udp --> in quarter 3 of 2015, refactoring was conducted to maintain pointers in package wrapper (more specifically: UDP related implementation).
2.1.2 Before the maintainence branch is merged with master, it must pass all testsuites.


3. Testing.
2.1 All newly added features must have test cases.