C++ Style Recommendations


In writing code to implement a design, it is as important to write it to be read as it is to write it to be executed.

In many software projects, maintainance is perhaps 50% of the cost of the total project, so the engineers altering the code have to be assisted in understanding the design and implementation.

C++ is a bulky language, having inherited (!) all the baggage of C with the addition of a complex class structure. As with most languages, your designs will be better realized if you do not use all of C++ capabilities... use of many language features will result in code that difficult to fathom.

This list contains recommended C++ techniques that will make your code more uniformly readable, understandable, and maintainable. These guidelines are not inviolable rules, but if followed as closely as possible will result in a better realization of your designs.