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Code Style - Everything Curl

The document discusses code style guidelines for C code in the curl project. It states that a unified code style makes the code easier to read and maintain. The guidelines include using spaces not tabs for indentation, only allowing /* */ comments since it is C89 code, limiting lines to 80 columns for readability, placing the opening brace on the same line as if/while/do/for statements, putting else clauses on a new line, and not including spaces before parentheses in conditionals. Violations of these rules will prevent code from being accepted.

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31 views

Code Style - Everything Curl

The document discusses code style guidelines for C code in the curl project. It states that a unified code style makes the code easier to read and maintain. The guidelines include using spaces not tabs for indentation, only allowing /* */ comments since it is C89 code, limiting lines to 80 columns for readability, placing the opening brace on the same line as if/while/do/for statements, putting else clauses on a new line, and not including spaces before parentheses in conditionals. Violations of these rules will prevent code from being accepted.

Uploaded by

not here
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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22.8.

2020 Code style - Everything curl

Code style

Source code that has a common style is easier to read than code that uses different styles in
different places. It helps making the code feel like one continuous code base. Easy-to-read is a
important property of code and helps make it easier to review when new things are added and it
helps debugging code when developers are trying to figure out why things go wrong. A unified
style is more important than individual contributors having their own personal tastes satisfied.

Our C code has a few style rules. Most of them are verified and upheld by the lib/checksrc.pl
script. Invoked with make checksrc  or even by default by the build system when built after
./configure --enable-debug  has been used.

It is normally not a problem for anyone to follow the guidelines as you just need to copy the style
already used in the source code, and there are no particularly unusual rules in our set of rules.

We also work hard on writing code that is warning-free on all the major platforms and in general
on as many platforms as possible. Code that obviously will cause warnings will not be accepted
as-is.

Some of the rules that you will not be allowed to break are:

Indentation

We use only spaces for indentation, never TABs. We use two spaces for each new open brace.

Comments

Since we write C89 code, // are not allowed. They weren't introduced in the C standard until C99.
We use only /* and */ comments:

/* this is a comment */
https://ec.haxx.se/sourcecode/sourcecode-style 1/3
22.8.2020 Code style - Everything curl

Long lines

Source code in curl may never be wider than 80 columns. There are two reasons for maintaining
this even in the modern era of large and high resolution screens:

1. Narrower columns are easier to read than wide ones. There's a reason newspapers have
used columns for decades or centuries.
2. Narrower columns allow developers to more easily view multiple pieces of code next to each
other in different windows. I often have two or three source code windows next to each other
on the same screen, as well as multiple terminal and debugging windows.

Open brace on the same line

In if/while/do/for expressions, we write the open brace on the same line as the keyword and we
then set the closing brace on the same indentation level as the initial keyword. Like this:

1 if(age < 40) {


2 /* clearly a youngster */
3 }

else on the following line

When adding an else  clause to a conditional expression using braces, we add it on a new line
after the closing brace. Like this:

1 if(age < 40) {


2 /* clearly a youngster */
3 }
4 else {
5 /* probably intelligent */
6 }
https://ec.haxx.se/sourcecode/sourcecode-style 2/3
22.8.2020 Code style - Everything curl

No space before parentheses

When writing expressions using if/while/do/for, there shall be no space between the keyword
and the open parenthesis. Like this:

1 while(1) {
2 /* loop forever */
3 }

https://ec.haxx.se/sourcecode/sourcecode-style 3/3

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