Coding

 At the end of the design phase we have:

 module structure of the system
 module specifications:
 data structures and algorithms for each module.
 Objective of coding phase:
 transform design into code
 unit test the code.

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Coding Standards
 Good software development
organizations require their
programmers to:
 adhere some standard style of
coding
 called coding standards.

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Coding Standards
 Many software development
organizations:
 formulate their own coding
standards that suits them most,
 require their engineers to follow
these standards.

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Coding Standards
 Advantage of adhering to a
standard style of coding:
 it gives a uniform appearance to
the codes written by different
engineers,
 it enhances code understanding,
 encourages good programming
practices.
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Coding Standards
 A coding standard
 sets out standard ways of
doing several things:
 the way variables are named,
 code is laid out,
 maximum number of source
lines allowed per function, etc.

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Coding guidelines
 Provide general suggestions
regarding coding style to be
followed.

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Code inspection and
code walk throughs
 After a module has been
coded,
 code inspection and code walk
through are carried out
 ensures that coding standards
are followed
 helps detect as many errors as
possible before testing.
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Code inspection and
code walk throughs
 Detect as many errors as possible
during inspection and walkthrough:
 detected errors require less effort
for correction
 much higher effort needed if errors
were to be detected during
integration or system testing.

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Coding Standards and
Guidelines
 Good organizations usually develop
their own coding standards and
guidelines:
 depending on what best suits their
organization.

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Representative Coding
Standards
 Rules for limiting the use of globals:
 what types of data can be declared
global and what can not.
 Naming conventions for
 global variables,
 local variables, and
 constant identifiers.

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Representative Coding
Standards
 Contents of headers for different
modules:
 The headers of different modules
should be standard for an
organization.
 The exact format for header
information is usually specified.

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Representative Coding
Standards
 Header data:
 Name of the module,
 date on which the module was created,
 author's name,
 modification history,
 synopsis of the module,
 different functions supported, along with
their input/output parameters,
 global variables accessed/modified by the
module.
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 Naming conventions for global
variables, local variables, and
constant identifiers: A possible naming
convention can be that global variable
names always start with a capital letter,
local variable names are made of small
letters, and constant names are always
capital letters.

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Representative Coding
Standards
 Error return conventions and
exception handling mechanisms.
 the way error and exception conditions
are handled should be standard within
an organization.
 For example, when different functions
encounter error conditions
 should either return a 0 or 1 consistently.

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Representative Coding
Guidelines

 Do not use too clever and difficult to

understand coding style.
 Code should be easy to understand.
 Many inexperienced engineers actually
take pride:
 in writing cryptic and incomprehensible
code.
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Representative Coding
Guidelines
 Clever coding can obscure meaning
of the code:
 hampers understanding.
 makes later maintenance difficult.
 Avoid obscure side effects.

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Representative Coding
Guidelines
 Code should be well-documented.
 Rules of thumb:
 on the average there must be at least
one comment line
 for every three source lines.
 The length of any function should not
exceed 10 source lines.

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Representative Coding
Guidelines

 Lengthy functions:
 usually very difficult to
understand
 probably do too many different
things.

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Representative Coding
Guidelines

 Do not use goto statements.

 Use of goto statements:
 make a program unstructured
 make it very difficult to
understand.

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Code review
 Code review for a model is carried out after the
module is successfully compiled and the all the
syntax errors have been eliminated.
 Normally, two types of reviews are carried out
on the code of a module.
 These two types code review techniques are
code inspection and code walk through.

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Code Walk Through
 An informal code analysis technique.
 undertaken after the coding of a module is
complete.
 A few members of the development team
select some test cases:
 simulate execution of the code by hand using
these test cases.
 Discussion should focus on discovery of
errors:
 and not on how to fix the discovered errors.

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 The main objectives of the walk through are to
discover the algorithmic and logical errors in the
code.
 The members note down their findings to
discuss these in a walk through meeting where
the coder of the module is present.
 The team performing code walk through should
not be either too big or too small.
 Ideally, it should consist of between three to seven
members.

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Code Inspection
 In contrast to code walk through, the aim of code
inspection is to discover some common types of errors
caused due to oversight and improper programming.
 In addition to the commonly made errors, adherence to
coding standards is also checked during code inspection.
 Good software development companies collect statistics
regarding different types of errors commonly committed
by their engineers and identify the type of errors most
frequently committed.
 Such a list of commonly committed errors can be used
during code inspection to look out for possible errors.

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Commonly made errors
 Use of uninitialized variables.
 Nonterminating loops.
 Array indices out of bounds.
 Improper storage allocation and
deallocation.
 Actual and formal parameter mismatch in
procedure calls.
 Jumps into loops.

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Code Inspection
 Use of incorrect logical operators
 or incorrect precedence among operators.
 Improper modification of loop variables.
 Comparison of equality of floating point
values, etc.
 Also during code inspection,
 adherence to coding standards is checked.

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Programming (Coding) Style &
Conventions

 Check for errors early and often.

 Return from errors immediately.
 Have you checked for compiler warnings?
Warnings often point to real bugs.
 If possible reduce object and file dependencies.
 Eliminate needless import or include statements.
 Check again for warnings or errors before
committing source code.

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