C++ style

We generally follow Google C++ Style Guide. One major exception is the naming convention of functions: Taichi adopts the snake case for function naming, as opposed to the camel case suggested in Google's style, e.g. this_is_a_taichi_function().

Below we highlight some of the most widely used styles.

Naming conventions

• Class and struct names should use the camel case, e.g. CodegenLlvm.
  • Prefer capitalizing only the first letter of an acronym/abbreviation (examples).
• Variable names should use the snake case, e.g. llvm_context.
• Private class member variable names should end with an _, e.g. id_to_snodes_.
• Constant names should use the camel case, with a prefix k, e.g. constexpr int kTaichiMaxNumArgs = 64;.
• Macros should start with TI_, e.g. TI_NOT_IMPLEMENTED.
  • In general, avoid using macros as much as possible.
  • Avoid using TI_NAMESPACE_BEGIN/END in the new code.

Rule of thumbs

• Use const as much as possible, e.g. function parameter types, class member functions, etc.
• Provide default initializers to the class member variables, at least for the POD types.

  class Foo {
   private:
    int x_{0};
    char* buf_{nullptr};
  };

• Embrace the smart pointers and avoid new and delete.
• Mark the constructor explicit to prevent the compiler from doing any implicit conversion.
• Avoid virtual function calls in the constructors or destructors (explanation).