The first important thing to note is that a coding standards document is not about right and
wrong. It's not about good and bad or which method is better.
A coding standards document's purpose is to make sure that all code is designed, written
and laid out the same to make it easier for a developer to switch from one persons work to
another without the needed change of mentality to read someone else's style.
It's all about uniformity, and nothing about "Right and wrong"
With that in mind some things you should clarify in a coding standards document are:
Naming Conventions
How will you name your methods, variables, classes and interfaces? Which notation will you
be using?
Also something else included in our standards was a split off standards for SQL, so we had
similar names for tables, procedures, columns, id fields, triggers, etc.
Indentation
What will you be using for indentation? A single tab? 3 spaces?
Layout
Will braces be kept on the same line as the opening method line? (generally java) or on the
next line or a line of its own? (generally C#)
Exception Handling / Logging
What are your standards for exception handling & logging, is it all home grown or are you
using a third party tool? How should it be used?
Commenting
We have standards to dictate grammatical correctness, and that comments begin on the
line before, or after, not on the same line, this increases readability. Will comments have to
be indented to the same depth as the code? Will you accept those comment borders used
around larger texts?
How about the \\\ on Methods for descriptions? Are these to be used? When?
Exposure
Should all of your methods and fields be implementing the lowest level of access possible?
Also an important thing to note. A good standards document can go a long way in helping
review code, does it meet these minimum standards?
I've barely scratched the surface of what can go into one of these documents, but K.I.S.S.
Don't make it long, and boring, and impossible to get through, or those standards just wont
be followed, keep it simple.
General Principles
Formatting Conventions
Indentations, spaces, tabs (to use them or not), number of characters per line, etc.
Naming Conventions
Meaningful names (names that describes the variable use, etc)
Naming formats
(example naming formats for constants,
Variable names (boolean, numeric, string, datetime, etc.),
aliases (SQL), etc.
classes,
methods
Output files example reports, XML, EXCEL, EAM configuration exports, etc.
Input files example EXCEL, templates, etc. uploaded within EAM, etc.
Documentation Conventions
Writing comments and types of comments
Documenting changes and additions to codes
Change management related documentation such as linking changes to ITSM tickets, ADO cards, etc.
Programming Conventions
Exception handling, pop-up messaging, etc.