Code Style

This document is only meant to teach you the code style used in this project and will not explain why this coding style is used.

• Tabs vs Spaces
• Empty line between blocks and statements
• Empty line between commented blocks
• Variable names
• Types at the top
• Private fields at the end of a struct
• Don't comment out outdated code
• Comments start with space and uppercase
• Package names
• Use gofmt
• Code editor

Tabs vs Spaces

Use tabs for indentation and spaces for alignment:

type AnimeTitle struct {
	Romaji    string
	English   string
	Japanese  string
	Canonical string
	Synonyms  []string
}

Empty line between blocks and statements

Bad:

func() {
	if true {
		// Block 1
	}
	if true {
		// Block 2
	}
	doSomething()
	doSomething()
	if true {
		// Block 3
	}
}

Good:

func() {
	if true {
		// Block 1
	}

	if true {
		// Block 2
	}

	doSomething()
	doSomething()

	if true {
		// Block 3
	}
}

Empty line between commented blocks

A commented block is a sequence of lines preceded by a descriptive comment. Commented blocks should be treated as normal blocks and therefore require newlines separating them from other blocks.

Bad:

func(a int, b int) int {
	// Add one to a and b
	a++
	b++
	// Calculate c as the sum of a and b
	c = a + b
	// Return c squared
	return c * c
}

Good:

func(a int, b int) int {
	// Add one to a and b
	a++
	b++

	// Calculate c as the sum of a and b
	c = a + b

	// Return c squared
	return c * c
}

Variable names

Variables are written in camelCase and should clearly state what they contain, preferably with no abbreviations. Common short names like id and url are allowed.

Iterator variables in loops are an exception to this rule and can be 1-letter, non-significant variable names, usually i and j. index is also quite common.

Early returns

Do not wrap a whole function in 1 if-block to check parameters. Use early returns.

Bad:

func DoSomething(a string, b string) {
	if a != "" && b != "" {
		doIt(a, b)
	}
}

Good:

func DoSomething(a string, b string) {
	if a == "" || b == "" {
		return
	}

	doIt(a, b)
}

Types at the top

type definitions should be placed at the very top of your files. Variables, constants, interface implementation assertions and the package statement are the only constructs allowed above type definitions.

Private fields at the end of a struct

This is not an absolute rule but try to keep private fields at the end of a struct.

type MyType struct {
	PublicA string
	PublicB string
	PublicC string

	privateA int
}

Don't comment out outdated code

You should delete outdated code instead of commenting it out. Comments should be used for explanation of existing code and outdated code is saved in the git history anyway if you ever need it (in most cases outdated code is never re-used).

Comments start with space and uppercase

Example:

// This comment starts with a space and an uppercase letter.

Package names

Package names should be short lowercase identifiers and tests should be written using the black box pattern. Black box testing can be enabled by adding the suffix _test to the package names in *_test.go files. It will enable you to test your library like it would be used by another developer, without internal access to private variables.

Use gofmt

Your IDE should automatically call gofmt to format your code every time you save the file.

Code editor

It is highly recommended to use Visual Studio Code as it has an excellent Go plugin and the repository includes workspace settings to get you started quickly.