C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices

Contents

Preface

Organizational and Policy Issues

0. Don’t sweat the small stuff. (Or: Know what not to standardize.)

1. Compile cleanly at high warning levels

2. Use an automated build system

3. Use a version control system

4. Invest in code reviews

Design Style

5. Give one entity one cohesive responsibility

6. Correctness, simplicity, and clarity come first

7. Know when and how to code for scalability

8. Don’t optimize prematurely

9. Don’t pessimize prematurely

10. Minimize global and shared data

11. Hide information

12. Know when and how to code for concurrency

13. Ensure resources are owned by objects. Use explicit RAII and smart pointers

Coding Style

14. Prefer compile- and link-time errors to run-time errors

15. Use const proactively