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807 lines
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
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"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
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<html>
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<head>
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="llvm.css" type="text/css">
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<title>A Few Coding Standards</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<div class="doc_title">
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A Few Coding Standards
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</div>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
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<li><a href="#mechanicalissues">Mechanical Source Issues</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#sourceformating">Source Code Formatting</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#scf_commenting">Commenting</a></li>
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<li><a href="#scf_commentformat">Comment Formatting</a></li>
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<li><a href="#scf_includes"><tt>#include</tt> Style</a></li>
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<li><a href="#scf_codewidth">Source Code Width</a></li>
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<li><a href="#scf_spacestabs">Use Spaces Instead of Tabs</a></li>
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<li><a href="#scf_indentation">Indent Code Consistently</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#compilerissues">Compiler Issues</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#ci_warningerrors">Treat Compiler Warnings Like
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Errors</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ci_portable_code">Write Portable Code</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ci_class_struct">Use of class/struct Keywords</a></li>
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</ol></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#styleissues">Style Issues</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#macro">The High Level Issues</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#hl_module">A Public Header File <b>is</b> a
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Module</a></li>
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<li><a href="#hl_dontinclude">#include as Little as Possible</a></li>
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<li><a href="#hl_privateheaders">Keep "internal" Headers
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Private</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ll_iostream"><tt>#include <iostream></tt> is
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<em>forbidden</em></a></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#micro">The Low Level Issues</a>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#ll_assert">Assert Liberally</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ll_ns_std">Do not use 'using namespace std'</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ll_virtual_anch">Provide a virtual method anchor for
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classes in headers</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ll_preincrement">Prefer Preincrement</a></li>
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<li><a href="#ll_avoidendl">Avoid <tt>std::endl</tt></a></li>
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</ol></li>
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</ol></li>
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<li><a href="#seealso">See Also</a></li>
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</ol>
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<div class="doc_author">
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<p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a> and
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<a href="mailto:void@nondot.org">Bill Wendling</a></p>
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</div>
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<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
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<div class="doc_section">
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<a name="introduction">Introduction</a>
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</div>
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<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>This document attempts to describe a few coding standards that are being used
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in the LLVM source tree. Although no coding standards should be regarded as
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absolute requirements to be followed in all instances, coding standards can be
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useful.</p>
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<p>This document intentionally does not prescribe fixed standards for religious
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issues such as brace placement and space usage. For issues like this, follow
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the golden rule:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p><b><a name="goldenrule">If you are adding a significant body of source to a
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project, feel free to use whatever style you are most comfortable with. If you
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are extending, enhancing, or bug fixing already implemented code, use the style
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that is already being used so that the source is uniform and easy to
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follow.</a></b></p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>The ultimate goal of these guidelines is the increase readability and
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maintainability of our common source base. If you have suggestions for topics to
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be included, please mail them to <a
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href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris</a>.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
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<div class="doc_section">
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<a name="mechanicalissues">Mechanical Source Issues</a>
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</div>
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<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
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<!-- ======================================================================= -->
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<div class="doc_subsection">
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<a name="sourceformating">Source Code Formatting</a>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="scf_commenting">Commenting</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>Comments are one critical part of readability and maintainability. Everyone
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knows they should comment, so should you. Although we all should probably
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comment our code more than we do, there are a few very critical places that
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documentation is very useful:</p>
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<b>File Headers</b>
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<p>Every source file should have a header on it that describes the basic
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purpose of the file. If a file does not have a header, it should not be
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checked into Subversion. Most source trees will probably have a standard
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file header format. The standard format for the LLVM source tree looks like
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this:</p>
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<div class="doc_code">
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<pre>
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//===-- llvm/Instruction.h - Instruction class definition -------*- C++ -*-===//
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//
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// The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure
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//
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// This file is distributed under the University of Illinois Open Source
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// License. See LICENSE.TXT for details.
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//
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//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
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//
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// This file contains the declaration of the Instruction class, which is the
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// base class for all of the VM instructions.
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//
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//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>A few things to note about this particular format: The "<tt>-*- C++
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-*-</tt>" string on the first line is there to tell Emacs that the source file
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is a C++ file, not a C file (Emacs assumes .h files are C files by default).
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Note that this tag is not necessary in .cpp files. The name of the file is also
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on the first line, along with a very short description of the purpose of the
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file. This is important when printing out code and flipping though lots of
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pages.</p>
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<p>The next section in the file is a concise note that defines the license
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that the file is released under. This makes it perfectly clear what terms the
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source code can be distributed under and should not be modified in any way.</p>
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<p>The main body of the description does not have to be very long in most cases.
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Here it's only two lines. If an algorithm is being implemented or something
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tricky is going on, a reference to the paper where it is published should be
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included, as well as any notes or "gotchas" in the code to watch out for.</p>
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<b>Class overviews</b>
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<p>Classes are one fundamental part of a good object oriented design. As such,
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a class definition should have a comment block that explains what the class is
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used for... if it's not obvious. If it's so completely obvious your grandma
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could figure it out, it's probably safe to leave it out. Naming classes
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something sane goes a long ways towards avoiding writing documentation.</p>
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<b>Method information</b>
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<p>Methods defined in a class (as well as any global functions) should also be
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documented properly. A quick note about what it does any a description of the
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borderline behaviour is all that is necessary here (unless something
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particularly tricky or insideous is going on). The hope is that people can
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figure out how to use your interfaces without reading the code itself... that is
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the goal metric.</p>
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<p>Good things to talk about here are what happens when something unexpected
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happens: does the method return null? Abort? Format your hard disk?</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="scf_commentformat">Comment Formatting</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>In general, prefer C++ style (<tt>//</tt>) comments. They take less space,
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require less typing, don't have nesting problems, etc. There are a few cases
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when it is useful to use C style (<tt>/* */</tt>) comments however:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>When writing a C code: Obviously if you are writing C code, use C style
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comments.</li>
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<li>When writing a header file that may be <tt>#include</tt>d by a C source
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file.</li>
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<li>When writing a source file that is used by a tool that only accepts C
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style comments.</li>
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</ol>
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<p>To comment out a large block of code, use <tt>#if 0</tt> and <tt>#endif</tt>.
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These nest properly and are better behaved in general than C style comments.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="scf_includes"><tt>#include</tt> Style</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>Immediately after the <a href="#scf_commenting">header file comment</a> (and
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include guards if working on a header file), the <a
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href="#hl_dontinclude">minimal</a> list of <tt>#include</tt>s required by the
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file should be listed. We prefer these <tt>#include</tt>s to be listed in this
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order:</p>
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<ol>
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<li><a href="#mmheader">Main Module header</a></li>
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<li><a href="#hl_privateheaders">Local/Private Headers</a></li>
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<li><tt>llvm/*</tt></li>
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<li><tt>llvm/Analysis/*</tt></li>
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<li><tt>llvm/Assembly/*</tt></li>
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<li><tt>llvm/Bytecode/*</tt></li>
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<li><tt>llvm/CodeGen/*</tt></li>
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<li>...</li>
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<li><tt>Support/*</tt></li>
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<li><tt>Config/*</tt></li>
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<li>System <tt>#includes</tt></li>
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</ol>
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<p>... and each catagory should be sorted by name.</p>
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<p><a name="mmheader">The "Main Module Header"</a> file applies to .cpp file
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which implement an interface defined by a .h file. This <tt>#include</tt>
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should always be included <b>first</b> regardless of where it lives on the file
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system. By including a header file first in the .cpp files that implement the
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interfaces, we ensure that the header does not have any hidden dependencies
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which are not explicitly #included in the header, but should be. It is also a
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form of documentation in the .cpp file to indicate where the interfaces it
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implements are defined.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="scf_codewidth">Source Code Width</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>Write your code to fit within 80 columns of text. This helps those of us who
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like to print out code and look at your code in an xterm without resizing
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it.</p>
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<p>The longer answer is that there must be some limit to the width of the code
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in order to reasonably allow developers to have multiple files side-by-side in
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windows on a modest display. If you are going to pick a width limit, it is
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somewhat arbitrary but you might as well pick something standard. Going with
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90 columns (for example) instead of 80 columns wouldn't add any significant
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value and would be detrimental to printing out code. Also many other projects
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have standardized on 80 columns, so some people have already configured their
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editors for it (vs something else, like 90 columns).</p>
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<p>This is one of many contentious issues in coding standards, but is not up
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for debate.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="scf_spacestabs">Use Spaces Instead of Tabs</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>In all cases, prefer spaces to tabs in source files. People have different
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prefered indentation levels, and different styles of indentation that they
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like... this is fine. What isn't is that different editors/viewers expand tabs
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out to different tab stops. This can cause your code to look completely
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unreadable, and it is not worth dealing with.</p>
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<p>As always, follow the <a href="#goldenrule">Golden Rule</a> above: follow the
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style of existing code if your are modifying and extending it. If you like four
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spaces of indentation, <b>DO NOT</b> do that in the middle of a chunk of code
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with two spaces of indentation. Also, do not reindent a whole source file: it
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makes for incredible diffs that are absolutely worthless.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="scf_indentation">Indent Code Consistently</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>Okay, your first year of programming you were told that indentation is
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important. If you didn't believe and internalize this then, now is the time.
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Just do it.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- ======================================================================= -->
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<div class="doc_subsection">
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<a name="compilerissues">Compiler Issues</a>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="ci_warningerrors">Treat Compiler Warnings Like Errors</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>If your code has compiler warnings in it, something is wrong: you aren't
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casting values correctly, your have "questionable" constructs in your code, or
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you are doing something legitimately wrong. Compiler warnings can cover up
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legitimate errors in output and make dealing with a translation unit
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difficult.</p>
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<p>It is not possible to prevent all warnings from all compilers, nor is it
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desirable. Instead, pick a standard compiler (like <tt>gcc</tt>) that provides
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a good thorough set of warnings, and stick to them. At least in the case of
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<tt>gcc</tt>, it is possible to work around any spurious errors by changing the
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syntax of the code slightly. For example, an warning that annoys me occurs when
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I write code like this:</p>
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<div class="doc_code">
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<pre>
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if (V = getValue()) {
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...
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}
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p><tt>gcc</tt> will warn me that I probably want to use the <tt>==</tt>
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operator, and that I probably mistyped it. In most cases, I haven't, and I
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really don't want the spurious errors. To fix this particular problem, I
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rewrite the code like this:</p>
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<div class="doc_code">
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<pre>
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if ((V = getValue())) {
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...
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}
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</pre>
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</div>
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<p>...which shuts <tt>gcc</tt> up. Any <tt>gcc</tt> warning that annoys you can
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be fixed by massaging the code appropriately.</p>
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<p>These are the <tt>gcc</tt> warnings that I prefer to enable: <tt>-Wall
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-Winline -W -Wwrite-strings -Wno-unused</tt></p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="ci_portable_code">Write Portable Code</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>In almost all cases, it is possible and within reason to write completely
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portable code. If there are cases where it isn't possible to write portable
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code, isolate it behind a well defined (and well documented) interface.</p>
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<p>In practice, this means that you shouldn't assume much about the host
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compiler, including its support for "high tech" features like partial
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specialization of templates. In fact, Visual C++ 6 could be an important target
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for our work in the future, and we don't want to have to rewrite all of our code
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to support it.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="ci_class_struct">Use of <tt>class</tt> and <tt>struct</tt> Keywords</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>In C++, the <tt>class</tt> and <tt>struct</tt> keywords can be used almost
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interchangeably. The only difference is when they are used to declare a class:
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<tt>class</tt> makes all members private by default while <tt>struct</tt> makes
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all members public by default.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, not all compilers follow the rules and some will generate
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different symbols based on whether <tt>class</tt> or <tt>struct</tt> was used to
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declare the symbol. This can lead to problems at link time.</p>
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<p>So, the rule for LLVM is to always use the <tt>class</tt> keyword, unless
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<b>all</b> members are public, in which case <tt>struct</tt> is allowed.</p>
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</div>
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|
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
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|
<div class="doc_section">
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|
<a name="styleissues">Style Issues</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
|
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|
|
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<!-- ======================================================================= -->
|
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<div class="doc_subsection">
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<a name="macro">The High Level Issues</a>
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</div>
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|
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
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<a name="hl_module">A Public Header File <b>is</b> a Module</a>
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</div>
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p>C++ doesn't do too well in the modularity department. There is no real
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encapsulation or data hiding (unless you use expensive protocol classes), but it
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is what we have to work with. When you write a public header file (in the LLVM
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source tree, they live in the top level "include" directory), you are defining a
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module of functionality.</p>
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<p>Ideally, modules should be completely independent of each other, and their
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header files should only include the absolute minimum number of headers
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possible. A module is not just a class, a function, or a namespace: <a
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href="http://www.cuj.com/articles/2000/0002/0002c/0002c.htm">it's a collection
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of these</a> that defines an interface. This interface may be several
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functions, classes or data structures, but the important issue is how they work
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together.</p>
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<p>In general, a module should be implemented with one or more <tt>.cpp</tt>
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files. Each of these <tt>.cpp</tt> files should include the header that defines
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their interface first. This ensure that all of the dependences of the module
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header have been properly added to the module header itself, and are not
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implicit. System headers should be included after user headers for a
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translation unit.</p>
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</div>
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<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
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<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
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<a name="hl_dontinclude"><tt>#include</tt> as Little as Possible</a>
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</div>
|
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<div class="doc_text">
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<p><tt>#include</tt> hurts compile time performance. Don't do it unless you
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have to, especially in header files.</p>
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<p>But wait, sometimes you need to have the definition of a class to use it, or
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to inherit from it. In these cases go ahead and <tt>#include</tt> that header
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file. Be aware however that there are many cases where you don't need to have
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the full definition of a class. If you are using a pointer or reference to a
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class, you don't need the header file. If you are simply returning a class
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instance from a prototyped function or method, you don't need it. In fact, for
|
|
most cases, you simply don't need the definition of a class... and not
|
|
<tt>#include</tt>'ing speeds up compilation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>It is easy to try to go too overboard on this recommendation, however. You
|
|
<b>must</b> include all of the header files that you are using -- you can
|
|
include them either directly
|
|
or indirectly (through another header file). To make sure that you don't
|
|
accidently forget to include a header file in your module header, make sure to
|
|
include your module header <b>first</b> in the implementation file (as mentioned
|
|
above). This way there won't be any hidden dependencies that you'll find out
|
|
about later...</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="hl_privateheaders">Keep "internal" Headers Private</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>Many modules have a complex implementation that causes them to use more than
|
|
one implementation (<tt>.cpp</tt>) file. It is often tempting to put the
|
|
internal communication interface (helper classes, extra functions, etc) in the
|
|
public module header file. Don't do this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you really need to do something like this, put a private header file in
|
|
the same directory as the source files, and include it locally. This ensures
|
|
that your private interface remains private and undisturbed by outsiders.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Note however, that it's okay to put extra implementation methods a public
|
|
class itself... just make them private (or protected), and all is well.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="ll_iostream"><tt>#include <iostream></tt> is forbidden</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>The use of <tt>#include <iostream></tt> in library files is
|
|
hereby <b><em>forbidden</em></b>. The primary reason for doing this is to
|
|
support clients using LLVM libraries as part of larger systems. In particular,
|
|
we statically link LLVM into some dynamic libraries. Even if LLVM isn't used,
|
|
the static c'tors are run whenever an application start up that uses the dynamic
|
|
library. There are two problems with this:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ol>
|
|
<li>The time to run the static c'tors impacts startup time of
|
|
applications—a critical time for GUI apps.</li>
|
|
<li>The static c'tors cause the app to pull many extra pages of memory off the
|
|
disk: both the code for the static c'tors in each <tt>.o</tt> file and the
|
|
small amount of data that gets touched. In addition, touched/dirty pages
|
|
put more pressure on the VM system on low-memory machines.</li>
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
|
<p>Note that using the other stream headers (<tt><sstream></tt> for
|
|
example) is allowed normally, it is just <tt><iostream></tt> that is
|
|
causing problems.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div align="center">
|
|
<table>
|
|
<tbody>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<th>Old Way</th>
|
|
<th>New Way</th>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>#include <iostream></pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>#include "llvm/Support/Streams.h"</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>DEBUG(std::cerr << ...);
|
|
DEBUG(dump(std::cerr));</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>DOUT << ...;
|
|
DEBUG(dump(DOUT));</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>std::cerr << "Hello world\n";</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>llvm::cerr << "Hello world\n";</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>std::cout << "Hello world\n";</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>llvm::cout << "Hello world\n";</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>std::cin >> Var;</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>llvm::cin >> Var;</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>std::ostream</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>llvm::OStream</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>std::istream</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>llvm::IStream</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>std::stringstream</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>llvm::StringStream</pre></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>void print(std::ostream &Out);
|
|
// ...
|
|
print(std::cerr);</pre></td>
|
|
<td align="left"><pre>void print(llvm::OStream Out);<sup>1</sup>
|
|
// ...
|
|
print(llvm::cerr);</pre>
|
|
|
|
</td> </tbody> </table>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
<p><sup>1</sup><tt>llvm::OStream</tt> is a light-weight class so it should never
|
|
be passed by reference. This is important because in some configurations,
|
|
<tt>DOUT</tt> is an rvalue.</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsection">
|
|
<a name="micro">The Low Level Issues</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="ll_assert">Assert Liberally</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>Use the "<tt>assert</tt>" function to its fullest. Check all of your
|
|
preconditions and assumptions, you never know when a bug (not neccesarily even
|
|
yours) might be caught early by an assertion, which reduces debugging time
|
|
dramatically. The "<tt><cassert></tt>" header file is probably already
|
|
included by the header files you are using, so it doesn't cost anything to use
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>To further assist with debugging, make sure to put some kind of error message
|
|
in the assertion statement (which is printed if the assertion is tripped). This
|
|
helps the poor debugging make sense of why an assertion is being made and
|
|
enforced, and hopefully what to do about it. Here is one complete example:</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_code">
|
|
<pre>
|
|
inline Value *getOperand(unsigned i) {
|
|
assert(i < Operands.size() && "getOperand() out of range!");
|
|
return Operands[i];
|
|
}
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>Here are some examples:</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_code">
|
|
<pre>
|
|
assert(Ty->isPointerType() && "Can't allocate a non pointer type!");
|
|
|
|
assert((Opcode == Shl || Opcode == Shr) && "ShiftInst Opcode invalid!");
|
|
|
|
assert(idx < getNumSuccessors() && "Successor # out of range!");
|
|
|
|
assert(V1.getType() == V2.getType() && "Constant types must be identical!");
|
|
|
|
assert(isa<PHINode>(Succ->front()) && "Only works on PHId BBs!");
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>You get the idea...</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Please be aware when adding assert statements that not all compilers are aware of
|
|
the semantics of the assert. In some places, asserts are used to indicate a piece of
|
|
code that should not be reached. These are typically of the form:</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_code">
|
|
<pre>
|
|
assert(0 && "Some helpful error message");
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>When used in a function that returns a value, they should be followed with a return
|
|
statement and a comment indicating that this line is never reached. This will prevent
|
|
a compiler which is unable to deduce that the assert statement never returns from
|
|
generating a warning.</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_code">
|
|
<pre>
|
|
assert(0 && "Some helpful error message");
|
|
// Not reached
|
|
return 0;
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="ll_ns_std">Do not use '<tt>using namespace std</tt>'</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
<p>In LLVM, we prefer to explicitly prefix all identifiers from the standard
|
|
namespace with an "<tt>std::</tt>" prefix, rather than rely on
|
|
"<tt>using namespace std;</tt>".</p>
|
|
|
|
<p> In header files, adding a '<tt>using namespace XXX</tt>' directive pollutes
|
|
the namespace of any source file that includes the header. This is clearly a
|
|
bad thing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In implementation files (e.g. .cpp files), the rule is more of a stylistic
|
|
rule, but is still important. Basically, using explicit namespace prefixes
|
|
makes the code <b>clearer</b>, because it is immediately obvious what facilities
|
|
are being used and where they are coming from, and <b>more portable</b>, because
|
|
namespace clashes cannot occur between LLVM code and other namespaces. The
|
|
portability rule is important because different standard library implementations
|
|
expose different symbols (potentially ones they shouldn't), and future revisions
|
|
to the C++ standard will add more symbols to the <tt>std</tt> namespace. As
|
|
such, we never use '<tt>using namespace std;</tt>' in LLVM.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The exception to the general rule (i.e. it's not an exception for
|
|
the <tt>std</tt> namespace) is for implementation files. For example, all of
|
|
the code in the LLVM project implements code that lives in the 'llvm' namespace.
|
|
As such, it is ok, and actually clearer, for the .cpp files to have a '<tt>using
|
|
namespace llvm</tt>' directive at their top, after the <tt>#include</tt>s. The
|
|
general form of this rule is that any .cpp file that implements code in any
|
|
namespace may use that namespace (and its parents'), but should not use any
|
|
others.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="ll_virtual_anch">Provide a virtual method anchor for classes
|
|
in headers</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>If a class is defined in a header file and has a v-table (either it has
|
|
virtual methods or it derives from classes with virtual methods), it must
|
|
always have at least one out-of-line virtual method in the class. Without
|
|
this, the compiler will copy the vtable and RTTI into every .o file that
|
|
#includes the header, bloating .o file sizes and increasing link times.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="ll_preincrement">Prefer Preincrement</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>Hard fast rule: Preincrement (<tt>++X</tt>) may be no slower than
|
|
postincrement (<tt>X++</tt>) and could very well be a lot faster than it. Use
|
|
preincrementation whenever possible.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The semantics of postincrement include making a copy of the value being
|
|
incremented, returning it, and then preincrementing the "work value". For
|
|
primitive types, this isn't a big deal... but for iterators, it can be a huge
|
|
issue (for example, some iterators contains stack and set objects in them...
|
|
copying an iterator could invoke the copy ctor's of these as well). In general,
|
|
get in the habit of always using preincrement, and you won't have a problem.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
|
|
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
|
|
<a name="ll_avoidendl">Avoid <tt>std::endl</tt></a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>The <tt>std::endl</tt> modifier, when used with iostreams outputs a newline
|
|
to the output stream specified. In addition to doing this, however, it also
|
|
flushes the output stream. In other words, these are equivalent:</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_code">
|
|
<pre>
|
|
std::cout << std::endl;
|
|
std::cout << '\n' << std::flush;
|
|
</pre>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p>Most of the time, you probably have no reason to flush the output stream, so
|
|
it's better to use a literal <tt>'\n'</tt>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
|
|
<div class="doc_section">
|
|
<a name="seealso">See Also</a>
|
|
</div>
|
|
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
|
|
|
|
<div class="doc_text">
|
|
|
|
<p>A lot of these comments and recommendations have been culled for other
|
|
sources. Two particularly important books for our work are:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ol>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Specific-Addison-Wesley-Professional-Computing/dp/0321334876">Effective
|
|
C++</a> by Scott Meyers. Also
|
|
interesting and useful are "More Effective C++" and "Effective STL" by the same
|
|
author.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>Large-Scale C++ Software Design by John Lakos</li>
|
|
|
|
</ol>
|
|
|
|
<p>If you get some free time, and you haven't read them: do so, you might learn
|
|
something.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
|
|
|
|
<hr>
|
|
<address>
|
|
<a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img
|
|
src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss" alt="Valid CSS!"></a>
|
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<a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"><img
|
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src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01!"></a>
|
|
|
|
<a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br>
|
|
<a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
|
|
Last modified: $Date$
|
|
</address>
|
|
|
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</body>
|
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</html>
|