BestPractices

#Best Practices

This sections contains best practices and style rules used within XLE.

#Contents

Page	Description
Naming Conventions	Guidelines for naming identifiers
Order Of Interest Rule	Writing good class definitions
Writing Effective Comments	Writing comments in XLE
Meaningful Naming	Guidelines for inventing meaningful names
Smart rvalue references	Guidelines for use of rvalue references and move operations
Virtual Destructors	Class with virtual methods should have a virtual destructor
Move Constructors Never Throw	Move operators and constructors should be marked never_throw
Exceptions And Constructors	Rules for exceptions thrown from constructors
Explicit Literal Types	Be explicit about types of literals
Insulation in C++	Insulation of implementation details
Smart ptrs & functions	Use of smart pointers for function parameters and return types
RAII	Resource Allocation Is Initialisation principle
Self-Sufficient Headers	Practices for headers and #include statements

#Outline

It's recommended that all code in XLE follows these practices as much as possible.

However, that said, all rules are made to be broken. Many practices have their exceptions, and there are always situations where the only practical solution is a special-case solution.

But. This is important -- if you choose not to follow the best practices outlined here, then you should have a good reason for it, and you should know what you're doing. If you have some doubt about your decisions, then just following the practices is best.

Every practice is provided with details and rationale detailing the intentions behind it.

Every practice beings with "Consider," "Prefer," or "Always". Hopeful the intention there is clear. While all good practices are important, the ones that are marked "always" tend to have further-reaching effects.