Code Style Guide

This document establishes the basic guidelines and recommendations for C and C++ programming styles within the srsRAN Project code base. Many of the guidelines are C++ specific, however some can still be applied to C. The main goal of this document is to help establish a consistent programming style throughout the srsRAN Project code base, and improve the readability and maintainability of code committed by users.

This document is heavily inspired in LLVM’s coding standards, please refer to this if you would like to take a further look into coding standards and best practices.

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Contents:

• Language and libraries
  • C & C++ version
  • Use of the C++ standard library
• Mechanical source aspects
  • Source Code Formatting
  • Comments
  • Header Guards
  • #include Style
  • Language and compiler aspects
• Style Aspects: High Level Issues
  • Self-contained Headers
  • Using #include Sparingly
  • Using “Internal” Headers
  • Use of namespace
  • Using “early exits” and continue
  • Avoid else after a return statement
  • Use of Static Helper Functions
• Style Aspects: Low Level Issues
  • Naming Conventions
  • Assert and expect
  • Do not use using namespace std
  • Using Range for Loops
  • Loop Structure
  • Using Pre-increment
  • Use of Anonymous Namespaces
  • Using C++ Casts
• Recommendations
  • Function and Class Length
  • Scope
  • Logical Operators
  • Using References(&) Over Pointers(*)
  • Const Correctness
  • Avoid Complex Expressions
  • Magic numbers
  • Fixed Width Integer Types
  • Function signatures
  • Class Layout Example
• Self Generating Documentation
  • General Aspects
  • Files
  • Classes and Structures
  • Class Methods and Free Functions
  • Class Data Members, Objects, Variables
• Commit Formatting