wip coding standards

Licensing

Baystation12 is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, which can be found in full in LICENSE-AGPL3.txt.

Commits with a git authorship date prior to 1420675200 +0000 (2015/01/08 00:00) are licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3, which can be found in full in LICENSE-GPL3.txt.

All commits whose authorship dates are not prior to 1420675200 +0000 are assumed to be licensed under AGPL v3, if you wish to license under GPL v3 please make this clear in the commit message and any added files.

Coding Standards

Responsibilities and formatting

Changelogs

Changelog entries shall be descriptive, and written with proper punctuation and grammar, in the past tense.

// These are good changelog entries
rscadd: Added Wrench 2.0, which acts faster, to supply and the autolathe.
maptweak: Removed the screwdriver that spawned in the bar.

// These are bad
rscadd: Adds a new wrench.
maptweak: removed a screwdriver from the bar

It is encouraged that all player-facing changes are given an appropriate, descriptive changelog entry. The following changes in particular shall have a changelog entry:

• Adding, modifying or removing objects that players can obtain and interact with.
• Adding, modifying or removing staff tools.
• Modifying any map file.
• Gameplay changes, such as jobs and access.
• Adding or removing items in non-map files, such as in lockers or vendors.

The following changes typically will not require a changelog:

• Minor cosmetic changes, such as editing descriptions, icons, or adding sound effects.
• Minor bug fixes.

Developers may require that a changelog be added for any change, either by commenting as such, or by labelling the PR with the 'Needs Changelog' tag.

Testing

All PRs must be tested by their author. The author is responsible for fixing issues directly caused by their changes under penalty of reversion.

Absolute Pathing

All new pathing shall be absolute. If a change is being made to a code block using relative pathing, it should be converted.

// This is an example of absolute pathing
/obj/item/thing/New()
    do_work()

// This is an example of relative pathing
/obj/item/thing
    New()
        do_work()

Naming Standards

todo: decide on a standard

Logic

Destroy/qdel()

del() is no longer used. When you wish to delete an object instead use qdel(). Keep in mind that unlike del(src), qdel(src) does not automatically terminate the current execution context and you must manually return or otherwise handle the rest of the proc flow. When an instance is deleted the Destroy() proc is automatically called. In the Destroy() proc any referenced instances the deleted instance is responsible for shall also be deleted, and all references shall always be cleared. When you implement Destroy() also remember to return the result of the the base proc, i.e:

/obj/example
	var/created_instance
	var/outside_instance
	var/list/list_of_references
	
/obj/example/New(var/outside_instance)
	..()
	src.created_instance = new()
	src.outside_instance = outside_instance
	list_of_references = list(created_instance, outside_instance)

/obj/example/Destroy()
	qdel(created_instance)		// Because we created this instance we are also responsible for deleting it in this particular case. This may not always be the case.
	created_instance = null
	outside_instance = null		// Because we were given this instance from the outside, we can simply null it in this particular case. This may not always be the case.
	list_of_references.Cut()	// Lists shall always be Cut(), never nulled or len set to 0 as this may cause reference leaks. 
	return ..()					// Always call the base proc and return the result, unless you have a clear reason not to.

Var-setter procs

Icon State Updates

The icon_state variable shall, with the exception of type definitions, New() or Initialize(), only be updated in update_icon(), or the relevant proc for the type.

Direction

dir shall be set by set_dir()

Density

density shall be set by set_density()

Movement/loc

loc shall be set by forceMove()

Name

name shall be set by SetName()

Opacity

opacity shall be set by set_opacity()

See in Dark

see_in_dark shall be set by set_see_in_dark()

See Invisible

see_invisible shall be set by set_see_invisible()

Set Invisibility

invisibility shall be set by set_invisibility()

Set Sight

sight shall be set by set_set_sight()

Set Stat

stat shall be set by set_stat()

brainstorming zone

some idea