See next chapter.
- Chapter 5: Typedefs
-
-Please don't use things like "vps_t".
-
-It's a _mistake_ to use typedef for structures and pointers. When you see a
-
- vps_t a;
-
-in the source, what does it mean?
-
-In contrast, if it says
-
- struct virtual_container *a;
-
-you can actually tell what "a" is.
-
-Lots of people think that typedefs "help readability". Not so. They are
-useful only for:
-
- (a) totally opaque objects (where the typedef is actively used to _hide_
- what the object is).
-
- Example: "pte_t" etc. opaque objects that you can only access using
- the proper accessor functions.
-
- NOTE! Opaqueness and "accessor functions" are not good in themselves.
- The reason we have them for things like pte_t etc. is that there
- really is absolutely _zero_ portably accessible information there.
-
- (b) Clear integer types, where the abstraction _helps_ avoid confusion
- whether it is "int" or "long".
-
- u8/u16/u32 are perfectly fine typedefs, although they fit into
- category (d) better than here.
-
- NOTE! Again - there needs to be a _reason_ for this. If something is
- "unsigned long", then there's no reason to do
-
- typedef unsigned long myflags_t;
-
- but if there is a clear reason for why it under certain circumstances
- might be an "unsigned int" and under other configurations might be
- "unsigned long", then by all means go ahead and use a typedef.
-
- (c) when you use sparse to literally create a _new_ type for
- type-checking.
-
- (d) New types which are identical to standard C99 types, in certain
- exceptional circumstances.
-
- Although it would only take a short amount of time for the eyes and
- brain to become accustomed to the standard types like 'uint32_t',
- some people object to their use anyway.
-
- Therefore, the Linux-specific 'u8/u16/u32/u64' types and their
- signed equivalents which are identical to standard types are
- permitted -- although they are not mandatory in new code of your
- own.
-
- When editing existing code which already uses one or the other set
- of types, you should conform to the existing choices in that code.
-
- (e) Types safe for use in userspace.
-
- In certain structures which are visible to userspace, we cannot
- require C99 types and cannot use the 'u32' form above. Thus, we
- use __u32 and similar types in all structures which are shared
- with userspace.
-
-Maybe there are other cases too, but the rule should basically be to NEVER
-EVER use a typedef unless you can clearly match one of those rules.
-
-In general, a pointer, or a struct that has elements that can reasonably
-be directly accessed should _never_ be a typedef.
-
-
- Chapter 6: Functions
+ Chapter 5: Functions
Functions should be short and sweet, and do just one thing. They should
fit on one or two screenfuls of text (the ISO/ANSI screen size is 80x24,
to understand what you did 2 weeks from now.
- Chapter 7: Centralized exiting of functions
+ Chapter 6: Centralized exiting of functions
Albeit deprecated by some people, the equivalent of the goto statement is
used frequently by compilers in form of the unconditional jump instruction.
return result;
}
- Chapter 8: Commenting
+ Chapter 7: Commenting
Comments are good, but there is also a danger of over-commenting. NEVER
try to explain HOW your code works in a comment: it's much better to
See the files Documentation/kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt and scripts/kernel-doc
for details.
- Chapter 9: You've made a mess of it
+ Chapter 8: You've made a mess of it
That's OK, we all do. You've probably been told by your long-time Unix
user helper that "GNU emacs" automatically formats the C sources for
remember: "indent" is not a fix for bad programming.
- Chapter 10: Configuration-files
+ Chapter 9: Configuration-files
For configuration options (arch/xxx/Kconfig, and all the Kconfig files),
somewhat different indentation is used.
experimental options should be denoted (EXPERIMENTAL).
- Chapter 11: Data structures
+ Chapter 10: Data structures
Data structures that have visibility outside the single-threaded
environment they are created and destroyed in should always have
have a reference count on it, you almost certainly have a bug.
- Chapter 12: Macros, Enums and RTL
+ Chapter 11: Macros, Enums and RTL
Names of macros defining constants and labels in enums are capitalized.
covers RTL which is used frequently with assembly language in the kernel.
- Chapter 13: Printing kernel messages
+ Chapter 12: Printing kernel messages
Kernel developers like to be seen as literate. Do mind the spelling
of kernel messages to make a good impression. Do not use crippled
Printing numbers in parentheses (%d) adds no value and should be avoided.
- Chapter 14: Allocating memory
+ Chapter 13: Allocating memory
The kernel provides the following general purpose memory allocators:
kmalloc(), kzalloc(), kcalloc(), and vmalloc(). Please refer to the API
language.
- Chapter 15: The inline disease
+ Chapter 14: The inline disease
There appears to be a common misperception that gcc has a magic "make me
faster" speedup option called "inline". While the use of inlines can be
- Appendix I: References
+ Chapter 15: References
The C Programming Language, Second Edition
by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie.
http://www.kroah.com/linux/talks/ols_2002_kernel_codingstyle_talk/html/
--
-Last updated on 30 April 2006.
+Last updated on 30 December 2005 by a community effort on LKML.
git://git.onelab.eu / linux-2.6.git / blobdiff