A Coding Convention for C++ Code

This document was borrowed and slightly modified from the Berkeley Systems, Inc. coding conventions. If you're looking for something more comprehensive, try the Ellemtel C++ Rules and Recommendations:

Purpose

To make it easier for us to read each other's code, here are a few guidelines to follow when writing C++ code.

Definitions

Member functions are functions that are associated with classes.
Data members are variables that are part of classes.

Identifier Names

All variable and constant identifiers begin with a lowercase letter.
Global variables begin with the (for example, theWindows).
Constants begin with lowercase c (for example, cMaxWindows).
Class data members begin with its (for example, itsCanvas).
Static data members begin with their (for example, theirTotal).
Both member and non-member functions begin with an uppercase letter (for example, TextStyle).
Names of classes begin with an uppercase letter (for example, Canvas).

Class Declarations

Classes are declared in the following order: public member functions, protected member functions, private member functions, protected data members, and private data members. No data members may be declared public. For example:

class Application {
public:
    Application();
    ~Application();
    void Run();
protected:
    void EventLoop();
private:
    EventRecord itsLastMouseEvent;
}

Control Structures

The control structures are as follows:

if (expression) {
    statements;
} else {
    statements;
}

for (expression; expression; expression) {
    statements;
}

do {
    statements;
} while (expression);

while (expression) {
    statements;
}

switch (expression) {
case constant:
    statements;
    break;
default:
    statements;
    break;
}

/*  
 * long comments which need more than one line use
 * this block comment style, if you're writing C
 */

//
// if you're writing C++, your block comments should look more
// like this -- it's ugly to mix commenting styles
//

statement;           /* short C comments */
statement;           // short C++ comments

File Names

C++ source files use the suffix .cc. C++ header files use the suffix .h.

Dan Wallach, CS Department, Rice University

Last modified: Fri Oct 15 15:14:12 CDT 1999