C++ Coding Standards: 101 Rules, Guidelines, and Best Practices

Herb and Andrei have done an outstanding job of collecting, condensing and organizing many man years of hard won pearls of wisdom into a concise collection of brief notes. This is a very readable book with a broad range of applicability to all C++ programmers. It is organized such that after the first read, it makes an excellent reference, complete with a dozen page "Summary of Summaries" which should not be overlooked at the end of the book. One of the features I like best about this book is that not only does each item have a rationale, but most items also have a section describing when the item should be disregarded. This book is not a substitute for thinking. Rather it is a tool to help the reader think more clearly. Therefore it has earned a prominent place on my bookshelf (I can use all the help I can get).

For many programmers, the term "coding standard" generates a gut-level response. We all know that someone is going to be pushing the "one, true brace style" or the "proper" way to indent code. This subject is probably the best way to generate instantaneous rebellion among a group of programmers. The first "standard" in "C++ Coding Standards" wipes all of that away with their first rule: 0. Don't sweat the small stuff. (Or: know what not to standardize.) In one quick entry, Sutter and Alexandrescu sweep all of the indent-level, brace-placement, CamelCase/underscores holy wars into a single category and give a useful bit of advice: Be consistent. The authors point out that any professional programmer should be able to read and write in any of these styles. The differences are basically a matter of personal preference. From this point on, we get to see a coding standard that is focused on "best practices" and proven techniques for improving code. This is the only coding standard I've ever seen that would really help a group of programmers improve their work.

Herb Sutter and Andrei Alexandrescu have been long time contributors to the C++ community, so every time I see their names on a book, I expect to be challenged in how I think about developing software - I always have high expectations. When I originally saw this book's title, I was thinking that the subject would be primarily about coding conventions. This is an area of interest to me, as I have 20+ years experience in software development and have set up our company's C++ coding conventions. However, once I saw the table of contents, I realized that this would have a bit more depth than a coding convention. I think that this book is mis-titled; it ought to be "101 C++ Guidelines and Best Practices". There is a distinction between coding conventions and "guidelines and best practices." Coding conventions that I have seen tend to delve into code micromanagement, usually for business rather than technical reasons (i.e., being able to more easily swap developers around). The authors address this indirectly with the first item: "0. Don't sweat the small stuff. (Or: know what not to standardize)" (Note the bit of C++ humor in starting the numbering at 0!) In this item, the authors dispatch the notion of "stylistic issues" and focus for the remainder of the book on practical technical advice. The areas that these guidelines cover include: Organizational and Policy Issues; Design Style; Coding Style; Functions and Operators; Design and Inheritance; Construction, Destruction, and Copying; Namespaces and Modules; Templates and Genericity; Error Handling and Exceptions; STL: Containers; STL: Algorithms; and Type Safety. I would strongly urge you to obtain a detailed breakout of the table of contents to help evaluate the appropriateness of this book to you (see http://www.gotw.ca/publications/c++cs.htm). The authors assert that this book is for the whole spectrum of developers, beginners through advanced. For the most part, I agree with them. The biggest challenge with this subject matter is that those developers who have not been "burned" in the past will not always appreciate the wisdom espoused in these items. Take heed when they say that a lesson has been learned through "bitter experience." Although there are 101 items in this book, I think there are one or two that are weak. One in particular, "99. Don't use invalid objects. Don't use unsafe functions," seems to address issues that should be obvious to even beginners. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a couple of items whose efficacy is debatable. Consider item 39, "Consider making virtual functions non-public, and public functions non-virtual." I have seen the arguments for this design technique argued many times in the comp.lang.c++ group. I understand all the arguments in its favor, but personally have not yet put this into practice. In the middle of these extremes are 97 or 98 very useful pieces of advice. As technical books tend to be expensive, most of us need to be choose

I love both this book and Effective C++ for different reasons. The Effective C++ series is mainly very low level hints that help you avoid the pitfalls that C++ has in store for you. This book, while showing a lot of code, gives a higher level perspective of the areas it covers (e.g. templates, STL, class design, namespaces, etc.). That perspective grounds you in an understanding of the topic, then binds that to some real world code examples. Both approaches are very valuable. I would recommend getting both books. You can't live without the practical advice of Effective C++ or the architectural material in C++ Coding Standards.

You have never seen a book quite like this before. When the authors of this book speak, the C++ community listens, but together they have outdone themselves, and you and I are the happy beneficiaries. This is the first "coding standards" book I've seen that works. The organization is clear and intuitive, the topics are pertinent, and the content is of the highest quality. All the standards contained herein have been rigorously scrutinized (I have hundreds of emails to prove it!) by a generous sampling of the leading contributors in the C++ world, as attested by the acknowledgements in the Preface. More than just style guidelines and "gotcha" warnings, C++ Coding Standards clarifies the idioms and practices that pertain specifically to successful C++ software. Even better, you can't avoid deepening your mastery of the finer points of C++ as you read. This is the singularly authoritative Writ of Common Wisdom for the entire C++ development experience. Chuck Allison Editor, The C++ Source