Why Have Code Conventions?
Code conventions are important to programmers for a number of reasons:
For the conventions to work, every person writing software must conform
to the code
- 80% of the lifetime cost of a piece of software goes to maintenance.
- Hardly any software is maintained for its whole life by the original
- Code conventions improve the readability of the software, allowing
engineers to understand new code more quickly and thoroughly.
- If you ship your source code as a product, you need to make sure
it is as well packaged and clean as any other product you create.
- The use of these guidelines should result in readable code and should
- The resulting documentation should be easy to maintain.
- This document should be a living document in that as we discover
better ways to do things, it gets reflected here.
What is expected of everyone...
Then and only then should anyone begin to challenge them*.
- Everyone should read these guidelines.
- Everyone should understand them.
- Everyone should use them.
*Ultimately, everyone is expected to help refine the rules embodied
in this document.