style.md

Style Guidelines

Your code is expected to follow the guidelines below. If you do not follow these guidelines you will receive a deduction on your assignment score:

1. Use lower-case letters to begin a variable or method name.
2. Use upper-case letters to begin a class name.
3. Use camelCase not_underscores.
4. Be consistent with spacing. variable= new Something() is not good. variable = new Something() is much better.

• Put one space after each comma in a parameter list.
• Put one space on either side of a binary operator.
• Do not put spaces immediately after a left parenthesis or before a right parenthesis.
• Do not put spaces before a semicolon.
• Put one space before a left parenthesis, except before an empty parameter list.

5. Be consistent with your use of the this keyword, especially in constructors.
6. Use try-with-resources.
7. Document all of the methods and classes you create.

• Every source code file should contain a header block of documentation providing basic information about the contents and the author.
• Each class and interface, and each method in a class, should have a small header block that describes its role.
• Use in-line documentation as appropriate to clearly describe complex logic.
• Don't wait until a program is finished to insert documentation. As pieces of your program are completed, comment them appropriately.

8. Use private data members unless there is a good reason to do otherwise.
9. Make sure use proper indentation in all classes.
10. Do not catch unchecked exceptions unless there is a very good reason. Instead, try to use conditionals appropriately to avoid unchecked (e.g., NullPointer) exceptions.
11. Do not replicate code unless there is a very good reason.