Coding Standards

This article is WIP, please discuss at issue #554

• Indentation cluster: four spaces (not tabs, you can change the tab behavior on most editors to produce spaces when hitting TAB key)

• Keep it readable, use proper indentation, do not use excessive CAPS or question and exclamation marks.

• Watch your language, be nice for others.

• Try to stay within the 80 columns limit (especially comments).

• function definitions

    # note: no space before `()`, one space after it (no newline)
    func() {
        local a="Use locals where possible"
        local b="do not use local a=x b=y"
        code
    }
  

• control flows:

    # small commands are allowed
    if single; then cmd; fi
    
    if condition; then
        one
    elif cond; then
        two
    else
        three
    fi
    while cond; do
        stuff
    done
    for ((i=0; i<$length; i++)); do
        echo "$i something"
    done
    case "$1" in
      1)# note: two spaces indentation
        anything
        ;;
      2)
        whatever
        ;;
      *)
        ;;
    esac
  

• Comments: try to explain a code block if it needs to (examples of useless comments). Try to separate code blocks with a newline. Regular comments should have a space after the #, disabled code should have no extra space after it.

    # turns on the graphical card and loads the driver if necessary
    bumblebee-enablecard
  
    # check if optirun is already running
    if pidof -x /usr/bin/optirun >/dev/null ; then
        echo "Already running"
    fi
  
    # the below code was a bad idea, perhaps it needs to be removed?
    #if is_coding_at_night; then
    #    rm -rf /usr
    #fi