Slide 1
C Coding Guidelines
Slide 2
Coding Standards
Programming standards is to support the development of
applications that are consistent and well written.
Standards and guidelines help developers to create a code base
with a uniform presentation, which leads to code that is easy to
understand, easy for other developers to use and easy to maintain.
Standards and guidelines also help developers to avoid the common
pitfalls of C that leads to code that is robust, reliable and portable.
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Slide 3
Why Coding Standards?
Coding Standards for C are essential and should be adopted to achieve
the following goals.
Facilitate joint development
Avoid common pitfalls
Maintainability
Reliability
Portability
Understandability
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Slide 4
Data Definition Standards
Constants
Use upper case
int SECONDS = 60;
Macros
Use upper case
#define PI 3.14
Functions
Use lower case with _ as separator
double get_area(int);
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Slide 5
Data Definition Standards
Structures
T followed by mixed case
struct TmyStruct{
int age;};
Enumerations
E followed by mixed case
emun EmyEnum{
eMonday,
eTuesday,
eWednesday};
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Slide 6
Variables Definition
Variable Variable Name Variable
Variable Name = Prefix in Hungarian Suffix
Notation
Prefix Datatype Suffix Variable Type
b Boolean _g Global or External
c Character _s Static
i Integer _r register
li Long
f Flaot
d Double
Learn more about Hungarian Notation here,
http://web.mst.edu/~cpp/common/hungarian.html
Slide 7
Variables Definition
Example: An unsigned int variable which will hold the value of
number of students available in the class can be declared as:
unsigned int uiStudents;
For Global or External variables:
unsigned int uiStudents_g;
For Static variables:
unsigned int uiStudents_s;
For Register variables:
unsigned int uiStudents_r;
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Slide 8
Variables Definition
Avoid declaring dimensionless or implicitly dimensioned arrays
1. int aiArray[] = { 0,1,2,3,4 } ; /* not
recommended */
2. char acString[] ; /* not recommended */
3. int aiArryay[5] = { 0,1,2,3,4 } ; /*
recommended */
4. char acString[80] ; /* recommended */
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Slide 9
General Standards – Defining Data
Do not use any identifiers which are reserved for compilers, libraries
and headers.
To represent the null character do not use “”, use „\0‟ or NULL.
Do not assume that uninitialized variables are set to zero. Always
initialize variables and structures where it is required to initialize
them explicitly.
Avoid using constants throughout the programs, instead, used
#defines. Also, predefined #defines from header files should be
used. For example: M_PI is defined in <math.h>
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Slide 10
Activity
Look at the following variable names and list out the data type of each
of the following. Example – ‘uiStudents‟ is a unsigned integer.
usiOption
ldStars
bChoice
uliBooks
cInitialLetter
fArea
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Answers:
unsigned short
Long double
Boolean
Unsigned long integer
Character
Float
Avtivity Duration: 10 mins
Slide 11
Standards - Files and Layout
There should be a module specific forward declaration header files
that shows the derivation hierarchy.
Header files will have extensions .h
Encapsulate the environment dependent defined types and macros
in the local standard header by using #defines and #ifndef
statements.
It is recommended that the original author and all major contributors
add one line each along with revision details.
Functions and variables may have comments describing the
purpose in short.
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Slide 12
Headers at the beginning of .c/.h files
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Slide 13
Function Names & Headers
Each function should be accompanied by appropriate reference
documentation
Use mixed case letters in naming a function. For example,
Void UpdateList(const List& pList);
Though the length of the function name is operating system/compiler
dependent but it should be meaningful
The function header precedes the function definition and have the
following format:
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Slide 14
Function Header
/*
Name: Function Name
Description: Function Description (Short)
Parameters: <Parameter type><Parameter name><Description>
Parameter type can be : [I], [O] or [IO]
Returns: Return value and description
Globals Updated: Other Source Files this function updates
Tables updated: Tables in database this function updates
Calls: Other functions this function calls
*/
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Slide 15
Function Definition
As per ANSI function shall be defined in a following format:
<return type>
<function name> (<parameter declaration>)
{
<declarations and statements>
}
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Slide 16
Example
int
ML_QaGetErrMsg (int iErrorNo, /* Comment */
char *pcErrorMsg /* Comment */
)
{
-----------------------
-----------------------
}
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Slide 17
Activity
Can you write a program as per the standards which calculates the
area of the circle when user provides the radius of the circle from the
console. Program must have a function which is used to calculate the
area. Also display the area of the circle if radius provided by the user is
assumed to be half and as well as double of itself.
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Activity Duration: 15 mins
Slide 18
General Standards – Coding Style
Size of a function can be maximum of 200 lines. Comments are not
included.
Size of a file can be of maximum 2000 lines. Comments are not
included
File name should not exceed 14 characters including only one
extension character and not more than 3 characters after extension.
Comments should only be used to explain the code which is not self
explanatory.
Always use parenthesis in complex arithmetic statements as a good
practice.
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Slide 19
Coding Style – Placement of Braces
Style 1
Control
{ Opening brace in a new line
statement;
}
Style 2
Control{ Opening brace in a same line
statement;
}
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Slide 20
Coding Style – Simple Statements
Put one statement per line.
Indent statement by four spaces where required.
Put semicolon one space after the executable statement.
Make full use of operators. For example:
i++ ; is faster than i = i +1 ;
Do not use floats for logical checks.
When possible test for inequality instead of equality. Design
functions to return the values in such a way.
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Refer to the complete C standard Guidelines from HCL’s OMS Portal.
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