C# Coding Standards

Visual Studio Settings

• Use indentation of 3.

• Use spaces instead of tabs.

• If using Resharper, make sure a Resharper settings file is available to format your code.

Naming Convention

Use meaningful and understandable names. Code should read as a story and only some well known abbreviations such as DTO, PK etc. should be used.

Classes and Methods

• Use Pascal Casing for class name public class SomeClass.

• Use Pascal Casing for public and protected method name public void SomeMethod().

• Use Camel Casing for private method name private int somePrivateMethod().

• Prefix interface with I public interface IMyInterface.

• Suffix exception classes with Exception public class SBSuiteException: Exception.

Variables

• Prefix private/protected member variable with _ (underscore): private int _parentContainerId.

• Use ALL_CAPS Casing for constant variables: public const double DEFAULT_PERCENTILE = 0.5;.

• Use Camel Casing for local variable names and method arguments: int ingredientNode.

• All members variable should be declared at one place of a class definition.

• Prefer variables initialization at the point of declaration .

• Do not use public members. Use properties instead.

• Do not use Hungarian notation (e.g. b for boolean, s for strings etc.).

• Except for program constants, never use global variables.

Comments

• Do not comment the obvious

• Indent comment at the same level of indentation as the code you are documenting

• All comments must be written in English

• Do not generate comments automatically

• Do comment algorithm specifics. For example, why your loop starts at index 1 and not at 0.

• If a lot of comments are required to make a method easier to understand, break down the method in smaller methods

• Really, do not comment the obvious

Coding Style

• No hard coded strings and magic number should be used. Declare a constant instead.

• Method with return values should not have side effects unless absolutely required.

• Exit early instead of having nested if statements.

  For example, instead of

  public void UpdateValue(bool isVisible, bool isEditable, double value)
  {
    if(isVisible)
    {
      if(isEditable)
      {
        _value = value;
      }
    }
  }

  use

  public void UpdateValue(bool isVisible, bool isEditable, double value)
  {
    if(!isVisible || !isEditable)
      return;
  
    _value = value;
  }

• Do not write if statements in one line.

• Do not write for and forEach statements in one line.

• Always use block {} for for and forEach statements.

• Always have a default case for switch statement, potentially throwing an exception if the default is unreachable.

Best Practices

DOs

• Use IReadOnlyList/IReadOnlyCollection as return type or parameter of your public APIs instead of IEnumerable.

• Create methods such as Add, Remove in your class if you need to modify an internal list instead of exposing the list to the outside world.

DON'Ts

• Do not use IList/List as a return type or parameter of public APIs (methods or class member). By using those, you are breaking encapsulation and anyone can modify the list which makes debugging very hard.

• Do not use ICache/IDictionary as return type or parameter of public APIs. By doing so, you are duplicating the knowledge of how the key is constructed. This is also a break in encapsulation. Create your own class derived from Cache if you need to use a Cache construct as part of API.