The :doc:`LSST user documentation style guide </user-docs/index>` is built upon the Google Developer Style Guide. This page lists our exceptions and modifications to those guidelines.
For LSST DM Python and C++, you should use the imperative mood to write the summary sentence:
Get the value.
The imperative mood is conventional in scientific Python software (Numpy, SciPy, and Astropy, among others). In turn, our C++ standard follows the Python convention since our use of the two languages is often intertwined. See also:
- :ref:`Python summary sentence standard <py-docstring-short-summary>`
- :ref:`C++ summary sentence standard <cpp-doxygen-short-summary>`
Note
This recommendation for LSST DM differs from the Google Developer Style Guide, which recommends using the present tense for function and method summaries. For example:
Gets the value.
If you are documenting a completely different technology, such as HTTP API endpoints, using the present tense is a good idea.