1 This document defines many guidelines that should be adhered to when developing
2 against Banshee. These guidelines will make the codebase more readable,
3 extensible, and portable.
5 Commit Message Guidelines
6 =========================
8 Every change to source code must have a commit message associated to it. The
9 formatting details of this message are described here:
11 http://live.gnome.org/Git/CommitMessages
13 Please review these guidelines separate to this document, and take in account
14 these policies on top:
16 1. Unlike many other open-source projects, we don't use the git tagging
17 'Signed-off-by' to refer as a licencing statement of a contribution,
18 rather we use it as 'Reviewed by this maintainer' metadata.
20 2. As a consequence of the above, the choice of licencing attribution
21 is implicit: by contributing a patch to the Banshee project you are
22 automatically accepting to follow the same licence as the project
23 itself (see our COPYING file) unless stated on the contrary.
25 3. When a contributed patch contains new files, please include licence
26 headers in each of them, in the same way the rest of the files of
27 the projects already have.
29 4. It's recommended that you add yourself (or your company) to the list
30 of the copyright owners of a file if you're modifying a considerable
34 C# Coding Style Guidelines
35 ==========================
37 These guidelines should be followed when writing code in Banshee. For the most
38 part they are similar to the Mono syntax guidelines [1]. All public API must
39 adhere to the .NET Framework Design Guidelines. [2]
41 Patches and additions to the code base will be checked for adherence to these
42 guidelines. If code is in violation, you will be asked to reformat it.
44 1. Private variable/field names should be written like:
46 lower_case_with_under_scores
48 2. Property, event, and method names should be written like:
50 UpperCaseStartingLetter
52 3. A space before method/conditional parenthesis, braces:
55 CallSomeFunction (args);
58 4. One space before a brace on the same line as a conditional or property:
64 5. Namespace, Class, Method braces on separate lines:
70 private void Method ()
79 6. The exception to rule 5 is for Properties. The brace in the same line
80 with the get/set keyword and the respective getter/setter block all
81 inline, provided the block is simple:
83 public string Something {
87 7. If the property accessor block (get/set) is more than one line, use the
90 public string Something {
97 8. There is a space between generic parameters:
99 Dictionary<K, V> not Dictionary<K,V>
101 9. Use 4 space characters for indentation, NOT tabs (except in Makefiles)
103 10. Try to observe a 120 character wrap margin. If your lines are over 120
104 characters, break and indent them logically.
106 11. One space at both sides of all type of operators (assignment,
107 equality, mathematical, event-subscription, ...):
109 var compare = (a + b * c) != (d - e * f);
111 12. Please write `private` accessors even if the language defaults
112 to it in the context you're in.
114 13. For tests, use the Assert.That(actual, Is.EqualTo(expected)); syntax,
115 which is more readable, and prevents you from misplacing the expected
116 parameter in the place of the actual parameter (a mistake that is very
117 usual when using the older Assert.AreEqual(,) syntax).
119 14. Parameter names should be written like:
124 .NET API Naming Guidelines
125 ==========================
127 1. Member names should be descriptive and it is best to avoid abbreviations
130 2. If an abbreviation or acronym is used, it should be in the form of an
131 accepted name that is generally well known
133 3. If an acronym is one-two characters long, it should be all caps
135 Banshee.IO and not Banshee.Io
137 4. If an acronym is three or more characters long, only its first letter
138 should be capitalized
141 Banshee.Playlists.Formats.Pls
142 Banshee.Playlists.Formats.M3u
144 5. Prefix interfaces with 'I'
150 Implementation Guidelines
151 =========================
153 1. Use generics and generic collections when possible in place of
154 1.0 features. New code in Banshee should leverage 2.0 features
155 as much as possible, and old code should be updated as development
156 occurs in a given area.
158 Use List<T> instead of ArrayList, Dictionary<K, V> instead of Hashtable
160 2. In *most* cases Banshee.IO should be used (and possibly extended) when
161 IO must be performed. Do *NOT* hard-code System.IO, Mono.Unix, or
162 Gnome.Vfs IO into top-level APIs.
164 3. When a platform-specific task needs to be performed, a top-level,
165 generic API must be designed first and then the platform implementation
166 of the API can be added. See Banshee.Configuration for ideas.
168 4. Do not hard code path separators. Use Path.DirectorySeparatorChar instead
169 as it is portable to other platforms.
171 5. Try not to perform many string concatenations. Use a StringBuilder if
174 6. Avoid calls to Assembly.GetTypes as memory resulting from these calls
178 Organization Guidelines
179 =======================
181 1. Organize code into logical namespaces:
185 Banshee.Cdrom.Nautilus
187 2. Try to keep GUI as separate as possible from "real work" and keep
188 the namespace separate as well, if possible and applicable. For instance,
189 Many different CD-ROM backends could be written for different
190 platforms, but the same GUI should be used. Don't put GUI code in
191 the platform implementation:
195 Banshee.Cdrom.Nautilus
197 3. Banshee's sources are layed out in the following way in the build:
199 src/<high-level-group>/<assembly-name>/<namespace>/<class-or-interface>.cs
201 4. Small member definitions (delegates, argument classes, enums) can go
202 inside the same file containing the primary class, but classes should
203 generally be in separate files. Use logical grouping with files.
206 [1] http://www.mono-project.com/Coding_Guidelines
207 [2] Highly recommended reading: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321246756/ or
208 view at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229042.aspx