GNU coding standards: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:44, 26 July 2009

Revision as of 09:49, 26 July 2009

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The '''GNU coding standards''' are a set of rules and guidelines for writing [[computer program|program]]s that work consistently within the [[GNU]] system. The standards document is part of the [[GNU Project]] and is available from the GNU website [http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/]. Though it focuses on writing [[free software]] for GNU in [[C (programming language)|C]], much of it can be applied more generally. In particular, the GNU Project encourages its contributors to always try to follow the standards--whetherstandards—whether or not their programs are implemented in C. The C code formatting style is well-known within the [[free software community]], but of course anyone can choose to follow it.

== Code formatting ==

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The consistent treatment of blocks as statements (for the purpose of indentation) is a very distinctive feature of the GNU C code formatting style; as is the mandatory space before parentheses. All code formatted in the GNU style has the property that each closing brace, bracket or parenthesis appears ''to the right'' of its corresponding opening delimiter, or in the same column.

As a general principle, [[GNU Emacs]] can be considered a reliable authority on the GNU code formatting style. As such, it is desirable that any piece of code that looks ugly when indented by Emacs is changed into a more Emacs-friendly form--forform—for example, by inserting additional parentheses.

== Comments ==