www.AmbySoft.com/javaCodingStandards.pdf
Copyright 1998 AmbySoft Inc.
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Table of Contents
GENERAL CONCEPTS.............................................................................................................................. 1
WHY CODING STANDARDS ARE IMPORTANT ............................................................................................... 1
THE PRIME DIRECTIVE ................................................................................................................................ 1
WHAT MAKES UP A GOOD NAME................................................................................................................ 2
GOOD DOCUMENTATION ............................................................................................................................. 3
The Three Types of Java Comments ....................................................................................................... 4
A Quick Overview of javadoc ................................................................................................................. 5
AMBLER’S LAW OF STANDARDS.................................................................................................................. 6
STANDARDS FOR MEMBER FUNCTIONS........................................................................................... 7
NAMING MEMBER FUNCTIONS .................................................................................................................... 7
Naming Accessor Member Functions..................................................................................................... 7
Getters ................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Alternative Naming Convention for Getters – Has and Can ........................................................................... 8
Setters.................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Constructors......................................................................................................................................................... 8
MEMBER FUNCTION VISIBILITY................................................................................................................... 9
DOCUMENTING MEMBER FUNCTIONS.......................................................................................................... 9
The Member Function Header................................................................................................................ 9
Internal Documentation........................................................................................................................ 11
TECHNIQUES FOR WRITING CLEAN CODE.................................................................................................. 12
Document Your Code............................................................................................................................ 12
Paragraph/Indent Your Code............................................................................................................... 12
Use Whitespace in Your Code .............................................................................................................. 13
Follow The Thirty-Second Rule............................................................................................................ 13
Write Short, Single Command Lines..................................................................................................... 13
Specify the Order of Operations........................................................................................................... 13
STANDARDS FOR FIELDS (FIELDS/PROPERTIES)......................................................................... 14
NAMING FIELDS......................................................................................................................................... 14
Naming Components (Widgets) ............................................................................................................ 14
Alternative for Naming Components – Hungarian Notation ............................................................................. 14
Alternative for Naming Components – Postfix-Hungarian Notation................................................................. 15
Naming Constants................................................................................................................................. 15
Naming Collections .............................................................................................................................. 16
Alternative for Naming Collections – The ‘Some’ Approach............................................................................ 16
FIELD VISIBILITY ....................................................................................................................................... 16
Do Not “Hide” Names.......................................................................................................................... 17
DOCUMENTING A FIELD............................................................................................................................. 17
THE USE OF ACCESSOR MEMBER FUNCTIONS........................................................................................... 17
Naming Accessors................................................................................................................................. 18
Advanced Techniques for Accessors..................................................................................................... 19
Lazy Initialization.............................................................................................................................................. 19
Getters for Constants ......................................................................................................................................... 20
Accessors for Collections .................................................................................................................................. 21
Accessing Several Fields Simultaneously.......................................................................................................... 22
Visibility of Accessors........................................................................................................................... 23
Why Use Accessors?............................................................................................................................. 24
Why Shouldn’t You Use Accessors? ..................................................................................................... 24
ALWAYS INITIALIZE STATIC FIELDS........................................................................................................... 25
STANDARDS FOR LOCAL VARIABLES ............................................................................................. 26
