Coding Standards

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Coding Standards

Naming Conventions

• Naming class names should be PascalCase format.
• Private functions and variables should start with a _ i.e. private _foo_bar()
• Function names and variables may use either delimiter_separated_words or caseSeparated words
• The name of the variable or function should describe what it is or does. i.e. $message_settings not $mset
• The name of the function or method should signify what the object is being used for, not where it is to be used, $action_save

Autoloading (starting with 2.0)

• PRS-4 compatible, see https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-4/ for details

General

• Use the Allman indentation style.
• Use tabs to indent code, not spaces.
• Try to always use brackets, even with one line of code after a control structure.
• No space after function name and before (); i.e. fooBar($var1, $var2);
• Space before and after the equal sign. i.e. $var = '';
• Each statement should be on its own line.
• One space after control structures such as if () elseif () for () while () etc.
• One space after language constructs such as echo, list, etc.
• Comma separated argument lists must have a space after the comma.
• When declaring a function, the function name should not have a space after it. i.e. function foobar($var1, $var2 = '').
• One space before and after the period ‘.’ when concatenating.
• Use comma ‘,’ concatenation for language constructs i.e. echo 'foo ', $txt['bar'], ' is great'
• Use strict equality checks === instead of == wherever practical.
• You should avoid the use of @ to silence an error.
• Use single quotes, reserve double quotes for when you want to concatenate a variable or use control characters.

File Syntax

• PHP files must start with
• Files must be saved in Unix Style line ending as UTF-8 (w/o byte order mark / ANSI as UTF-8)
• No whitespace at the end of lines.
• Empty lines mean that, avoid hidden spaces and indentation tabs in them.

Functions (and language constructs)

• Arguments with default values go at the end of the argument list. i.e. function foobar($var1, $var2 = '')
• Use isset() instead of in_array()
• Use include_once() instead of include() and require_once() instead of require().

Variables

• Initialize all variables.
• Constants must be in uppercase.
• It is generally best to use an associative array instead of numeric.
• Avoid internal type changing/conflicts, $var = '0' is not $var = 0;

Comments

• Commenting functions and classes use /** ... */ with the appropriate PHPDoc tags.
• For inline comments use //, Multiple line comments may use /* */ and each are on their own line.
• Comment often and use them to describe a block of code or as a placeholder for future code/mods.
• Comments should be unique per the file and should try to be unique per the entire application.
• Comments should be kept under 80 characters per line.