The Psychology of Quality and More

C Style: Standards and Guidelines (contents)

CHAPTER 3 : General Principles

PART 1 : BASICS

CHAPTER 3 : General Principles

3.1 Keywords

3.2 Think of the reader

3.3 Keep it simple

3.4 Be explicit

3.5 Be consistent

3.6 Minimize scope

3.7 There's no one true style

3.8 A standard which isn't used, isn't a standard

3.9 Distinguish between standards and guidelines

3.10 Standards don't guarantee good coding

3.11 Decide on your portability quotient

3.12 Standards are a function of their audience

3.13 Keep project standards

3.14 Use standard libraries

3.15 Utilize available tools

3.16 Summary

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3.14 Use standard libraries

When libraries are available with the compiler, or with platforms you are coding on, it seldom makes sense to reinvent the wheel by writing similar functions in your own code. This makes particular sense if you are writing to a standard, such as ANSI C.

An extension to this is to have standard libraries within your organization. This is particularly useful for application specific functions which are used in more than one product. Re-use is one of the most effective ways of increasing the productivity of programmers.

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