Coding Conventions

Coding Convention

When contributing to the MieSimulatorGUI, please follow the coding conventions detailed below. Some of the initial development did not adhere to these guidelines but going forward, this will be the code style and structure.

1. Naming Conventions

Definitions:

• Camel Case: Naming convention where the first letter of each word is capitalized with the exception of the first letter. Example: thisIsCamelCase
• Pascal Case: Naming convention where the first letter of every word is capitalized. Example: ThisIsPascalCase
• M-Prefix Pascal Case: Member variables prefixed with a lowercase 'm' followed by the variable name in Pascal Case. Example: mMemberVariable

Application:

• Source and Header Files: Must be lowercase.
  • Example: miesimulation.cpp, miesimulation.h, .
• Classes and Functions: Must be Pascal Case.
  • Example: class Calculate, void DoSimulation(), double CalculateG().
• Member Variables: Must use M-Prefix Pascal Case.
  • Example: mWavel, mQSca, mMinTheta.
• Local Variables and Parameters: Must be Camel Case.
  • Example: stepTheta, para, curMus.
• UI Methods (Qt Slots): Should follow the standard Qt underscore convention.
  • Example: on_button_clicked.
• UI Elements : Should follow the underscore with Pascal Case.
  • Example: QRadioButton *radioButton_NumDen.
• Constants and Macros: Must be Uppercase Underscore Delimited.
  • Example: CALCULATE_H, M_PI.

2. Indenting

Code should be indented with 4 space characters, if a tab character is used, make sure your source-code editor replaces tabs with 4 spaces.

3. Braces

An opening brace { should appear on the line after the start of a statement block and the code inside the brace should be indented 4 spaces. The closing brace } should be inline with the opening brace on it's own line.

4. Spacing

Spacing improves the readability of the source-code, follow these guidlines for spacing:

• Use a space after commas between function arguments: void Function(int a, int b).
• Use a space after control statements like if, while, and for: for (unsigned int i = 0; ...).
• Use a space before and after binary operators: x = a + b or refRelRe = para->scatRefRealArray[r] / para->medRefArray[r].
• No space between a function name and its opening parenthesis: CalculateG(curS1, curS2, para).

5. Example

The following snippet demonstrates the conventions used in the project:

#ifndef SAMPLE_H
#define SAMPLE_H

class Simulation
{
public:
    Simulation(void);
    
    double mResultValue; // Member variable with 'm' prefix

    void RunProcess(Parameters *para)
    {
        double localStep = 0.1; // Local variable in Camel Case
        
        for (int i = 0; i < para->nTheta; i++)
        {
            if (i % 2 == 0)
                CalculateInternal(i);
            else
            {
                mResultValue += i * localStep;
                UpdateLog();
            }
        }
    }

private:
    void CalculateInternal(int value);
};

#endif