Code style

The code style we follow in the EasyBuild code repository is mainly dictated by the Python standard PEP8.

Highlighted PEP8 code style rules:

• use 4 spaces for indentation, do not use tabs

  for example, use :set tabstop 4 and :set expandtab in Vim

• indent items in a list at an extra 4 spaces

  nested lists can be indented at the same indentation as the first item in the list if it is on the first line, closing brackets must match visual indentation

• use optional underscores, not camelCase, for variable, function and method names (i.e. poll.get_unique_voters(), not poll.getUniqueVoters)

• use InitialCaps for class names

• in docstrings, don’t use “action words”

The only (major) exception to PEP8 is our preference for longer line lengths: line lengths must be limited to 120 characters, and should by preference be shorter than 100 characters (as opposed to the 80-character limit in PEP8).

Notes

Style guides that go a step beyond PEP8:

• http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Programming_guidelines
• http://code.google.com/p/volatility/wiki/StyleGuide

Automatic rewriting of Python code: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PythonTidy/1.22

pep8 might be a useful tool to check PEP8 compliance: https://github.com/jcrocholl/pep8