Java Code Formatting Conventions¶

This page describes the best practices when writing or reviewing Java code

• Table of contents
• Java Code Formatting Conventions
  • General
  • Classes
  • Header
  • Body

General¶

In general it is recommended to follow SUNs Java Code Conventions TODO update link

In particular this means:

• no tabs, use only spaces! TODO is this still true?

• no commented code without reason why it is commented, but in general try to avoid commented code

• add comments/javadoc as much as possible

Classes¶

• start interfaces with capital I (e.g. ICdmBase )
• add suffix Base to abstract classes (e.g. CdmBase)

Header¶

• no $ID statement at beginning
• always add licence statement
• no empty line between licence statement and package line
• add javadoc on class
  • with minimum @author and @since
  • no empty lines at start or end
  • empty line between description text and tags

Body¶

• line break in class statement before extends and impelements (not necessary for short lines)
• never more then 1 empty line (with very few exceptions if there is an important reason)
• no empty lines before end-of-code-block brackets
• remove unnecessary information from javadoc, e.g. parameters or return statements without description; fully remove javadoc that has no description and auto-generated javadoc for getters and setters
• add 1 empty line between methods (optional if methods belong together as getter/setter/adder/remover/putter)
• for logging use java private static final Logger logger = LogManager.getLogger();
• add static methods at the beginning