Consistent, clean style in a code base leads to code that is more readable, debuggable, and maintainable. Robowflex provides a prescribed style file (.clang-format), which enforces code style automatically. To automatically format the code base, either use clang-format within your text editor, using the style file, or run the format.sh script. Some of these conventions are captured in the .clang-tidy format file. Use the tidy.sh script to automatically modernize your code base with clang-tidy.

However, there are some basic conventions that are also described in this file that must be considered when writing code for Robowflex.

Naming Conventions

All files should be lower_case, separated by underscores.

All classes should be within the robowflex namespace. Additional modules and specific components should also be placed in sub-namespaces. All classes and structures should also be named using CamelCase. All class methods and functions in general should be named with camelCase. Endeavor to have all variable names be a single, descriptive word, lowercase. If that is unavoidable, use lower_case. Private/protected class member variables should end in an underscore. Public class members should not end in an underscore.

Header Style

Header files should always be placed in the folder include/robowflex_*/, with the extension *.h. All headers should have header blockers in all-caps and an author description at the top:

/* Author: Code Writer */
 
#ifndef ROBOWFLEX_<insert name here>_
#define ROBOWFLEX_<insert name here>_
 
... code goes here ...
 
#endif

Dependencies between header files should be minimized. That is, if the exact declaration of an object is not needed in the header, and a forward declaration suffices, only the forward declaration should be used. This is to minimize compile times and to untangle dependencies, which might get hairy as the code base scales.

To forward declare a class, use the class forwarding macro:

#include <robowflex_library/class_forward.h>
 
namespace robowflex
{
    /** \cond IGNORE */
    ROBOWFLEX_CLASS_FORWARD(Object);
    /** \endcond */
    
    ...
}  // namespace robowflex

Note the use of the Doxygen condition ignore around forward declarations. This prevents doubling documentation of forward declarations.

Headers should never include code, to prevent issues of double declaration. Template code can live in header files.

Source Style

For single line scopes (e.g., after if or for), do not use brackets. Always add a line of space after a scope.

Always use the robowflex namespace at the top of the file:

using namespace robowflex;

You should separate class methods dedicated to different classes with a comment block:

... OldClass code
 
///
/// NewClass
///
 
... NewClass code

Other Conventions

For compatibility reasons, robowflex::RobotPose should be used wherever a transformation is required.
Most classes strive for const-correctness. Use const wherever possible. Moreover, use const auto &, in that order.