============================
:Author: Clay Sweetser, Dominik Picheta :Version: |nimversion|
.. default-role:: code .. include:: rstcommon.rst .. contents::
Although Nim supports a variety of code and formatting styles, it is nevertheless beneficial that certain community efforts, such as the standard library, should follow a consistent set of style guidelines when suitable. This enhancement proposal aims to list a series of guidelines that the standard library should follow.
Note that there can be exceptions to these rules. Nim being as flexible as it is, there will be parts of this style guide that don't make sense in certain contexts. Furthermore, just as Python's style guide changes over time, this style guide will too.
These rules will only be enforced for contributions to the Nim codebase and official projects, such as the Nim compiler, the standard library, and the various official tools such as C2Nim.
Lines should be no longer than 80 characters. Limiting the amount of information present on each line makes for more readable code - the reader has smaller chunks to process.
Two spaces should be used for indentation of blocks; tabstops are not allowed (the compiler enforces this). Using spaces means that the appearance of code is more consistent across editors. Unlike spaces, tabstop width varies across editors, and not all editors provide means of changing this width.
Although use of whitespace for stylistic reasons other than the ones endorsed by this guide are allowed, careful thought should be put into such practices. Not all editors support automatic alignment of code sections, and re-aligning long sections of code by hand can quickly become tedious.
# This is bad, as the next time someone comes
# to edit this code block, they
# must re-align all the assignments again:
type
WordBool* = int16
CalType* = int
... # 5 lines later
CalId* = int
LongLong* = int64
LongLongPtr* = ptr LongLong
Type identifiers should be in PascalCase. All other identifiers should be in camelCase with the exception of constants which may use PascalCase but are not required to.
# Constants can start with either a lower case or upper case letter.
const aConstant = 42
const FooBar = 4.2
var aVariable = "Meep" # Variables must start with a lowercase letter.
# Types must start with an uppercase letter.
type
FooBar = object
For constants coming from a C/C++ wrapper, ALL_UPPERCASE are allowed, but ugly. (Why shout CONSTANT? Constants do no harm, variables do!)
When naming types that come in value, pointer, and reference varieties, use a regular name for the variety that is to be used the most, and add a "Obj", "Ref", or "Ptr" suffix for the other varieties. If there is no single variety that will be used the most, add the suffixes to the pointer variants only. The same applies to C/C++ wrappers.
type
Handle = object # Will be used most often
fd: int64
HandleRef = ref Handle # Will be used less often
Exception and Error types should have the "Error" or "Defect" suffix.
type
ValueError = object of CatchableError
AssertionDefect = object of Defect
Foo = object of Exception # bad style, try to inherit CatchableError or Defect
Unless marked with the {.pure.}
pragma, members of enums should have an
identifying prefix, such as an abbreviation of the enum's name.
type
PathComponent = enum
pcDir
pcLinkToDir
pcFile
pcLinkToFile
Non-pure enum values should use camelCase whereas pure enum values should use PascalCase.
type
PathComponent {.pure.} = enum
Dir
LinkToDir
File
LinkToFile
In the age of HTTP, HTML, FTP, TCP, IP, UTF, WWW it is foolish to pretend
these are somewhat special words requiring all uppercase. Instead treat them
as what they are: Real words. So it's parseUrl
rather than
parseURL
, checkHttpHeader
instead of checkHTTPHeader
etc.
Operations like mitems
or mpairs
(or the now deprecated mget
)
that allow a mutating view into some data structure should start with an m
.
When both in-place mutation and 'returns transformed copy' are available the latter is a past participle of the former:
When the 'returns transformed copy' version already exists like strutils.replace
an in-place version should get an -In
suffix (replaceIn
for this example).
Use subjectVerb
, not verbSubject
, e.g.: fileExists
, not existsFile
.
The stdlib API is designed to be easy to use and consistent. Ease of use is measured by the number of calls to achieve a concrete high level action. The ultimate goal is that the programmer can guess a name.
The library uses a simple naming scheme that makes use of common abbreviations to keep the names short but meaningful.
=================== ============ ======================================
English word To use Notes
=================== ============ ======================================
initialize initFoo initializes a value type Foo
new newFoo initializes a reference type Foo
via `new` or a value type `Foo`
with reference semantics.
this or self self for method like procs, e.g.:
`proc fun(self: Foo, a: int)`
rationale: `self` is more unique in English
than `this`, and `foo` would not be DRY.
find find should return the position where
something was found; for a bool result
use `contains`
contains contains often short for find() >= 0
append add use add
instead of append
compare cmp should return an int with the
`< 0` `== 0` or `> 0` semantics;
for a bool result use `sameXYZ`
put put, []=
consider overloading []=
for put
get get, []
consider overloading []
for get;
consider to not use `get` as a
prefix: `len` instead of `getLen`
length len also used for number of elements size size, len size should refer to a byte size capacity cap memory mem implies a low-level operation items items default iterator over a collection pairs pairs iterator over (key, value) pairs delete delete, del del is supposed to be faster than
delete, because it does not keep
the order; delete keeps the order
remove delete, del inconsistent right now include incl exclude excl command cmd execute exec environment env variable var value value, val val is preferred, inconsistent right
now
executable exe directory dir path path path is the string "/usr/bin" (for
example), dir is the content of
"/usr/bin"; inconsistent right now
extension ext separator sep column col, column col is preferred, inconsistent right
now
application app configuration cfg message msg argument arg object obj parameter param operator opr procedure proc function func coordinate coord rectangle rect point point symbol sym literal lit string str identifier ident indentation indent =================== ============ ======================================
The return
statement should ideally be used when its control-flow properties
are required. Use a procedure's implicit result
variable whenever possible.
This improves readability.
proc repeat(text: string, x: int): string =
result = ""
for i in 0..x:
result.add($i)
Use a proc when possible, only using the more powerful facilities of macros, templates, iterators, and converters when necessary.
Use the let
statement (not the var
statement) when declaring variables that
do not change within their scope. Using the let
statement ensures that
variables remain immutable, and gives those who read the code a better idea
of the code's purpose.
Tuples which are longer than one line should indent their parameters.
type
LongTupleA = tuple[
wordyTupleMemberOne: int, wordyTupleMemberTwo: string,
wordyTupleMemberThree: float]
Similarly, any procedure and procedure type declarations that are longer than one line should do the same thing. Double indent may be used to distinguish them from the body that follows - this applies to all constructs with a body (if, while, etc).
type
EventCallback = proc(
timeReceived: Time, errorCode: int, event: Event,
output: var string)
proc lotsOfArguments(
argOne: string, argTwo: int, argThree: float,
argFour: proc(), argFive: bool, argSix: int
): GenericType[int, string] {.heyLookALongPragma.} =
discard
Multi-line procedure calls should continue indented (like multi-line procedure declarations).
startProcess(
nimExecutable, currentDirectory, compilerArguments
environment, processOptions)
Previous versions of this guide advocated vertical alignment along the opening brace / parenthesis - both styles are permissible with a preference for the current style in new code.
Use a..b
instead of a .. b
, except when b
contains an operator, for example a .. -3
.
Likewise with a..<b
, a..^b
and other operators starting with ..
.
Use std
prefix for standard library modules, namely use std/os
for single module and
use std/[os, sysrand, posix]
for multiple modules.
Prefer multiline triple quote literals to start with a newline; it's semantically identical (it's a feature of triple quote literals) but clearer because it aligns with the next line:
use this:
```nim
let a = """
foo
bar
"""
```
instead of:
```nim
let a = """foo
bar
"""
```
A getter API for a private field foo
should preferably be named foo
, not getFoo
.
A getter-like API should preferably be named getFoo
, not foo
if:
O(1)
For in between cases, there is no clear guideline.Likewise with a setter API, replacing foo
with foo=
and getFoo
with setFoo
in the above text.