C++ Coding Standards. 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices. Herb Sutter Andrei Alexandrescu. Boston. 'Y.'YAddison-Wesley

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1 C++ Coding Standards 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices Herb Sutter Andrei Alexandrescu 'Y.'YAddison-Wesley Boston

2 Contents Prefaee xi Organizational and Poliey Issues 1 o. Don't sweat the small stuff. (Or: Know what not to standardize.) 2 1. Compile c1eanly at high warning levels Use an automated build system Use aversion control system Invest in code reviews. 9 Design Style 5. Give one entity one cohesive responsibility Correctness, simplicity, and c1arity come first Know when and how to code for scalability Don't optimize prematurely Don't pessimize prematurely Minimize global and shared data Hide information Know when and how to code for concurrency Ensure resources are owned by objects. Use explicit RAH and smart pointers. 24 Coding Style 14. Prefer compile- and link-time errors to run-time errors Use const proactively Avoid macros vii

viii Contents 17. Avoid magic numbers. 34 18. Declare variables as locally as possible. 35 19. Always initialize variables. 36 20. Avoid long functions. Avoid deep nesting. 38 21.

3 viii Contents 17. Avoid magic numbers Declare variables as locally as possible Always initialize variables Avoid long functions. Avoid deep nesting Avoid initialization dependencies across compilation units Minimize definitional dependencies. Avoid cyclic dependencies Make header files self-sufficient Always write internal #include guards. Never write external #include guards. 43 Functions and Operators 25. Take parameters appropriately by value, (smart) pointer, or reference Preserve natural semantics for overloaded operators Prefer the canonical forms of arithmetic and assignment operators Prefer the canonical form of + + and --. Prefer calling the prefix forms Consider overloading to avoid implicit type conversions Avoid overloading &&,11, or. (comma) Don't write code that depends on the order of evaluation of function arguments. Class Design and Inheritance 32. Be clear what kind of class you're writing Prefer minimal classes to monolithic classes Prefer composition to inheritance Avoid inheriting from classes that were not designed to be base classes Prefer providing abstract interfaces Public inheritance is substitutability. Inherit, not to reuse, but to be reused Practice safe overriding Consider making virtual functions nonpublic, and public functions nonvirtual Avoid providing implicit conversions Make data members private, except in behaviorless aggregates (C-style structs) Don't give away your internals Pimpl judiciously Prefer writing nonmember nonfriend functions Always provide new and delete together If you provide any class-specific new, provide all of the standard forms (plain, in-place, and nothrow)

Contents ix Construction, Destruction, and Copying 47. Define and initialize member variables in the same order. 86 48. Prefer initialization to assignment in constructors. 87 49.

4 Contents ix Construction, Destruction, and Copying 47. Define and initialize member variables in the same order Prefer initialization to assignment in constructors Avoid calling virtual functions in constructors and destructors Make base dass destructors public and virtual, or protected and nonvirtual Destructors, deallocation, and swap never fail Copy and destroy consistently Explicitly enable or disable copying Avoid slicing. Consider Clone instead of copying in base dasses Prefer the canonical form of assignment Whenever it makes sense, provide a no-fail swap (and provide it correctly). 100 Namespaces and Modules 57. Keep a type and its nonmember function interface in the same namespace Keep types and functions in separate namespaces unless they're specifically intended to work together Don't write namespace usings in a header file or before an #include Avoid allocating and deallocating memory in different modules Don't define entities with linkage in a header file Don't allow exceptions to propagate across module boundaries Use sufficiently portable types in a module's interface. 116 Templates and Genericity 64. Blend static and dynamic polymorphism judiciously Customize intentionally and explicitly Don't specialize function templates Don't write unintentionally nongeneric code. 128 Error Handling and Exceptions 68. Assert liberally to document internal assumptions and invariants Establish a rational error handling policy, and follow it strictly Distinguish between errors and non-errors Design and write error-safe code Prefer to use exceptions to report errors Throw by value, catch by reference Report, handle, and translate errors appropriately Avoid exception specifications

X Contents STL: Containers 76. Use vector by default. Otherwise, choose an appropriate container. 150 77. Use vector and string instead of arrays. 152 78.

5 X Contents STL: Containers 76. Use vector by default. Otherwise, choose an appropriate container Use vector and string instead of arrays Use vector (and string::c_str) to exchange data with non-c++ APIs Store only values and smart pointers in containers Prefer push_back to other ways of expanding a sequence Prefer range operations to single-element operations Use the accepted idioms to really shrink capacity and really erase elements. 157 STL: Algorithms 83. Use a checked STL implementation Prefer algorithm calls to handwritten Ioops Use the right STL search algorithm Use the right STL SOft algorithm Make predicates pure functions Prefer function objects over functions as algorithm and comparer arguments Write function objects correctly. 172 Type Safety 90. Avoid type switching; prefer polymorphism Rely on types, not on representations Avoid using reinterpret_cast Avoid using static_cast on pointers Avoid casting away const Don't use C-style casts Don't memcpy or memcmp non-pods Don't use unions to reinterpret representation Don't use varargs (ellipsis) Don't use invalid objects. Don't use unsafe functions Don't treat arrays polymorphically Bibliography Summary of Summaries Index

Welcome to Teach Yourself Acknowledgments Fundamental C++ Programming p. 2 An Introduction to C++ p. 4 A Brief History of C++ p.

Welcome to Teach Yourself Acknowledgments Fundamental C++ Programming p. 2 An Introduction to C++ p. 4 A Brief History of C++ p. Welcome to Teach Yourself p. viii Acknowledgments p. xv Fundamental C++ Programming p. 2 An Introduction to C++ p. 4 A Brief History of C++ p. 6 Standard C++: A Programming Language and a Library p. 8