General code style and convention

All working files within the source tree of CIlib must adhere to the following conventions:

• License Header: All source files will add the GPLv2 license header. NOTE: CIlib will not compile if the check for header information fails.
• Trailing whitespaces: All trailing whitespaces must be removed.
• Netbeans users should use the "Remove Trailing Whitespace" option under the "Source" menu item.
• Eclipse users can use the Anyedit Eclipse Plugin to automatically remove trailing whitespace.
• EOL: UNIX End Of Line characters are expected.

Style conventions applying to the project:

• Indentation: No tabs are allowed for indentation! Use spaces.
• Line wrapping: A column-width of 120 is to be used.

Java code

All classes are to be written following the JavaBeans Specification, barring a special reason. Such reasons include the class being a Singleton or Helper class that is not required during the XML to Java binding process.

The CIlib style for Java source files is generally accepted to be:

• The names of classes / members / packages etc should make sense. If you are unsure, please consult the opinions of the development mailing list. Having a member, for example, named 'a' is useless.
• All class members are to be given names in CamelCaps (which is the accepted Java style).
• General code style is expected to look like the default style defined by Sun with regard to location of braces, puntuation etc.
• All Java code is expected to have accompanying Javadoc comments.

Javadoc comments

It is expected that all classes in CIlib have the appropriate Javadoc 5 comments attached to each method. Javadoc is extremely important for CIlib as the project is a library and users will constantly be referring to the API. The normal conventions described by Sun regarding Javadoc should be followed.

For package level Javadoc, CIlib uses the JDK5+ package-info.java package information.

References: All code that is written that is derived from a published article etc, will have the appropriate BibTeX entry in the class level Javadocs. The BibTeX reference should be placed in a <pre></pre> environment. Such references are extremely important and should be available in the Javadoc.

An important note about the {@inheritDoc} tag: please do not use this tag for classes that are not in CIlib. For example, if you have a class that extends a class or implements an interface that is defined in the JDK, the {@inheritDoc} annotation will fail to generate the expected Javadoc. You should rewrite / paraphrase the Javadoc to make the intention apparent.