C sharp Coding Guidelines for CowPress and ToDoMoo

In developing CowPress and ToDoMoo, CacheCows adheres to a set of coding standards and guidelines for C#. These standards ensure consistency, maintainability, and high quality in our codebase. This article outlines the key guidelines followed by our developers.

General Principles¶

• Readability and Clarity: Code should be easy to read and understand.
• Consistency: Consistent style and practices across the entire codebase.
• Best Practices: Adherence to recognized C# best practices.
• Comments and Documentation: Adequate and meaningful documentation and comments.

Formatting and Style¶

• Naming Conventions:
• Use PascalCase for class and method names.
• Use camelCase for variables and parameters.
• Constants should be in UPPER_CASE.
• Brace Style:
• Use K&R style braces, where open braces { go on the same line as the statement and close braces } on their own line.
• Line Length:
• Keep lines to a maximum of 120 characters long for better readability.

Code Structure¶

• Methods:
• Keep methods short and focused on a single task.
• Avoid deep nesting of control structures.
• Classes:
• Classes should be small and focused on a single responsibility.
• Group related classes in namespaces.

Error Handling¶

• Exception Handling:
• Use try-catch blocks to manage exceptions.
• Throw meaningful exceptions with descriptive messages.
• Logging:
• Log significant events and errors for debugging purposes.

Performance¶

• Resource Management:
• Use using statements for managing resources, ensuring they are properly disposed of.
• Avoid Premature Optimization:
• Write clear, understandable code first, then optimize only as needed after profiling.

Testing and Comments¶

• Unit Testing:
• Write unit tests for critical components.
• Strive for high code coverage but focus on testing the critical paths.
• Comments:
• Use comments to explain ‘why’, not ‘what’.
• Keep comments up-to-date with code changes.

Code Reviews¶

• Regular code reviews to ensure adherence to these guidelines.
• Use peer reviews as opportunities for learning and improvement.

By following these C# coding guidelines, we aim to maintain a high standard of code quality and efficiency in our development process for CowPress and ToDoMoo.

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