Java Programming Guidelines

Instructor: Kurt Mammen

 

Java provides an excellent coding style that most programmers follow. You should actually browse through it to see what a robust industrial-grade coding style looks like. For this course we will use a very simple coding style to 1) Make your life - and mine - easier, and 2) To get you in the habit of following a coding style.

 

Note that part of the grade for your programming assignments may be based on following these guidelines! Get in the habit of following these guidelines in all your work so that it becomes second nature for you. If you have any questions or concerns about the guidelines bring them up with your instructor in lab or office hours before handing in your work!

• ALWAYS include the following javadoc comment block at the top of each source file:

          /**
           * A brief description of the source file here.
           *
           * @author FirstName LastName   (replace with your name)
           * @version Assignment Name      (replace with things like Program 1, Lab 13, et cetera)
           */

 

• ALWAYS use one of the two following bracing styles (not both) for all statements (if, for, while, et cetera) as well as classes, iterfaces, and methods. FYI: Your instructor prefers the first style because 1) The increased use of white space which makes the statement condition stand out and, 2) The braces line up vertically making them eaiser to see and verify. More examples for a variety of statements can be found in the Java guidelines.
  

 
        if (i == 0)
        {

           // Your code here...

        }

 
The Java guidelines prefer this style:

        if (i == 0) {
           // Your code here...

        }

 

• ALWAYS use the block statement (the { and } characters) with all statements (if, for, while, et cetera) even if the statement only applies to one statement.  For example:

 

        if (i == 0)

        {

           j++;
        }

 

Never this! (even though it is syntactically and semantically correct)

 

        if (i == 0)

           j++;

 

And never this! (even though it is syntactically and symantically correct)

 

        if (i== 0) j++;

 

• ALWAYS use the naming conventions specified in the Java guidelines.

 

• ALWAYS indent you code using 3-space indentation.  Note that you may need to change your chosen text editor's default settings to make this easy and fool-proof.
  

 

• NEVER have any tab-characters in your source files.  Note that you may be able to change your chosen text editor's default settings to make this easy and fool-proof.

 

• NEVER exceed 100 characters per line. Note that the Java guidelines suggest not exceeding 80 characters per line! See Java guidelines for suggestions on how to do this in various code situations.

• NEVER suppress compiler warnings unless an assignment explicitly permits it - and then only suppress those explicitly permitted by the assignment.