C++ Coding Standards

Consistent, high-quality coding standards improve software quality, reduce time-to-market, promote teamwork, eliminate time wasted on inconsequential matters, and simplify maintenance. Now, two of the world's most respected C++ experts distil the rich collective experience of the global C++ community into a set of coding standards that every developer and development team can understand and use as a basis for their own coding standards.

The authors cover virtually every facet of C++ programming: design and coding style, functions, operators, class design, inheritance, construction/destruction, copying, assignment, namespaces, modules, templates, exceptions, STL containers and algorithms, and more. Each standard is described concisely, with practical examples. From type definition to error handling, this book presents C++ best practices, including some that have only recently been identified and standardised-techniques you may not know even if you've used C++ for years. Along the way, you'll find answers to questions like

• What's worth standardising--and what isn't?
• What are the best ways to code for scalability?
• What are the elements of a rational error handling policy?
• How (and why) do you avoid unnecessary initialisation, cyclic, and definitional dependencies?
• When (and how) should you use static and dynamic polymorphism together?
• How do you practice "safe" overriding?
• When should you provide a no-fail swap?
• Why and how should you prevent exceptions from propagating across module boundaries?
• Why shouldn't you write namespace declarations or directives in a header file?
• Why should you use STL vector and string instead of arrays?
• How do you choose the right STL search or sort algorithm?
• What rules should you follow to ensure type-safe code?

Whether you're working alone or with others, C++ Coding Standards will help you write cleaner code--and write it faster, with fewer hassles and less frustration.