CONTRIBUTING.md

Coding conventions

Try to adhere to these coding conventions if possible. They ensure a cleanly readable code throughout the project:

• Do not use auto
• Use two spaces for indentation
• Use UpperCamelCase for class names
• Use UpperCamelCase for methods
• Use snake_case for variables
• Add a m_ prefix to member variables
• Add a s_ prefix to static member (i.e. class-) variables
• ALL-CAPS enums, implementation constants, and the like, e.g. s_LONG_TIME.
• Please handle your errors. Do not use assert
  • A common way of handling errors is for a tools' Initialise(), Execute(), and Finalise() methods to return false. This will inform the framework of the failure allowing it to decide on the action to take. It can stop immediately, try to recover, or close the program graciously, running finalise on each tool rather than a hard stop. This lets you disconnect hardware connections etc. When returning false, send a log message with verbosity level 0, to ensure that it is always logged.
• Explain your code with helpful (!) comments, ideally using Doxygen syntax
• Classes, functions, methods, and if statements should place the opening brace at the end of the line, rather than on a new line
  • e.g. if(1) {
  • not

if
{

• Short if statements should be put on one line
  • e.g. if(1) return true;
  • not

if(1)
return true

• Functions that are usable by multiple tools, but don't live in the DataModel itself should go in DataModel/Utilities.{cpp,h} and live inside the util namespace
  • Classes should also go into that folder and namespace, but should have their own files e.g. Stopwatch.h & Stopwatch.cpp