Code Formatting

Rules

• Increases readability and expressiveness

• Put close to each other what belongs together

Vertical

• Member variable declarations at the top of the class

• Local variable declarations prior to their usage - not at the top of the block

• Use empty lines - but only one

• Write in order of execution and calls

• Write similar methods close to each other

Horizontal

• Limit line length - 100-120 characters

• The reader should not scroll to the right

• Use white space

• Use correct indentation

• Do not use tabular formatting

Blocks

• Always put braces

• Always put braces for empty blocks too

Good practices

• Agree on formatting in project

• Use your IDE's capabilities - default is often good

• Break long expressions into more lines

• Do not deviate too much from Java Code Conventions (Sun, 1997)