Formatting ========== All parts of Pango other than modules should use the following formatting style; for modules, it is up to the discretion of the module author / maintainer, though they are encouraged to follow the following. The Pango formatting style is basically the GNU style of formatting (see http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards.html), with a few additions. In brief overview: - Two character indents are used; braces go on a separate line, and get a separate indentation level, so the total indent for an enclosed block is 4 characters. if (x < foo (y, z)) haha = bar[4] + 5; else { while (z) { haha += foo (z, z); z--; } return abc (haha); } - Spaces should be present between function name and argument block, and after commas. foo (z, z) - In pointer types, the '*' is grouped with the variable name, not with the base type. int *a; NOT: 'int* a'. In cases where there is no variable name, for instance, return values, there should be a single space between the base type and the '*'. - function and variable names are lower_case_with_underscores type names are StudlyCaps, macro names are UPPER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES Documentation comments ====================== All public API functions should have inline documentation headers in the gtk-doc / gnome-doc style. For instance: /** * pango_layout_get_line: * @layout: a #PangoLayout * @line: the index of a line, which must be between 0 and * pango_layout_get_line_count(layout) - 1, inclusive. * * Retrieves a particular line from a #PangoLayout * * Return value: the requested #PangoLayoutLine, or %NULL if the * index is out of range. This layout line can * be ref'ed and retained, but will become invalid * if changes are made to the #PangoLayout. **/ PangoLayoutLine * pango_layout_get_line (PangoLayout *layout, int line) [...] An Emacs lisp file is distributed with gnome-libs which automates inserting these comments Choosing Function Names ======================= - Don't abbreviate in unexpected ways: pango_layout_get_line_count () Not: pango_layout_ln_cnt () - function that retrieve a value in a side-effect free fashion, should include "get" in the name. int pango_layout_get_line_count (PangoLayout *layout) not pango_layout_line_count () - functions that set a single parameter in a side-effect free fashion should include "set" in the name, for instance: void pango_layout_set_width (PangoLayout *layout, int width); Other comments ============== - Avoid unsigned values for all but flags fields. This is because the way C handles unsigned values generates bugs like crazy: If width is unsigned and 10, then: int new_width = MAX (width - 15, 1); produces 4294967291, not 1.