From c83d2b58e1776982a7ce45009fb373ec5702c521 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Luke Shumaker <lukeshu@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2016 19:15:29 -0500
Subject: improve HACKING documentation

---
 HACKING/code-style.md | 62 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 62 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 HACKING/code-style.md

(limited to 'HACKING/code-style.md')

diff --git a/HACKING/code-style.md b/HACKING/code-style.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..077bc49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/HACKING/code-style.md
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+The style guidelines aren't terribly strict.  As long as things are
+consistent per-file, I'm pretty happy.
+
+Style guidelines
+================
+
+Unless you have a good reason, use `[[ ... ]]` instead of `[ ... ]`;
+they work similarly, but `[[ ... ]]` is sometimes more readable (fine,
+rarely, but never less), and is harder to make mistakes with quoting,
+because it is syntactic magic, as opposed to `[ ... ]` which is an
+executable which just happens to be implemented as a builtin.
+
+Use a litteral tab for indent.  When indenting line-wrapped text, such
+as that for `prose`, do it like this:  (» indicates tab, · indicates
+space)
+
+	func() {
+	»   prose "This is the first line. This paragraph is going to be
+	»   ·······wrapped."
+	}
+
+The `; then` and `; do` should go on the same line as
+`if`/`elif`/`for`/`while`.  Also, there is no space before the `;`.
+
+Prefer the `for VAR in LIST` syntax over the `for ((init; cond; inc))`
+syntax, when possible.  For example (heh, `for` example):
+
+	local i
+	for (( i = 1 ; i <= 10 ; i++ )); do
+
+should be
+
+	local i
+	for i in {1..10}; do
+
+Of course, if the upper bound is a variable, the C-like syntax is
+the better option, as otherwise you would have to use `seq` (calling
+an external), or `eval` (gross, easy to mess up royally).
+
+Indent comments like you would code; don't leave them at the beginning
+of the line.  Example:
+
+	for item in "${list[@]}"; do
+		if [[ $item == foo ]]; then
+	# BAD
+			foobar
+		fi
+		if [[ $item == bar ]]; then
+			# GOOD
+			barbaz
+		fi
+	done
+
+Fauno, I'm sorry.  But I don't know how you can read your own code :P.
+
+Some people argue in favor of the useless use of cat, because data
+should flow from left to right.  However, the input redirection
+doesn't have to go on the right side of a command:
+
+	cat file | program  # useless use of cat
+	program < file      # data flows right to left
+	< file program      # just right
-- 
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