What are your favorite C++ Coding Style idioms [closed]

Answer 1

Not sure if this counts as an idiom, but I tend to use doxygen-style inline comments even when the project isn't -yet- using doxygen...

bool MyObjects::isUpToSomething() ///< Is my object up to something 

(aside. my comments are not usually quite that lame.)

Answer 2

Document the return values on the function line, so they are very easy to find.

int function(void) /* return 1 on success, 0 on failure */ 
{
    return 1;
};

Answer 3

if/while/for parenthesized expression(s) WITH a space separator

if (expression)  // preferred - if keyword sticks out more

vs.

if(expression)  // looks too much like a void function call

I guess this implies that I like my function calls to NOT have a space separator

foo(parm1, parm2);

Answer 4

Write each method or function argument on a separate line such that it can be easily commented.

int ReturnMaxValue(
    int* inputList,   /* the list of integer values from which to get the maximum */
    long size,        /* count of the number of integer values in inputList */
    char* extraArgs   /* additional arguments that a caller can provide.    */
)

Answer 5

re: ididak

I fix code that breaks long statements into too many short lines.

Let's face it: it's not the 90's any more. If your company can't afford widescreen LCDs for its coders, you need to get a better job :)

Answer 6

I don't know if it qualifies as an idiom, exactly, but quite a bit of heavy-duty template programming depends (often heavily) on SFINAE (substitution failure is not an error). A couple of the answers to a previous question have examples.