nixpkgs/maintainers/docs/coding-conventions.txt
Yury G. Kudryashov b987e603f0 * Description of the current coding conventions in Nixpkgs / NixOS. Comments welcome.
svn path=/nixpkgs/branches/stdenv-updates/; revision=10422
2008-01-31 10:39:01 +00:00

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Some conventions:
* Don't use TABs. Everybody has different TAB settings so it's asking
for trouble.
* Use 2 spaces of indentation per indentation level in Nix
expressions, 4 spaces in shell scripts. (Maybe 2 is too low, but
for consistency's sake it should be the same. Certainly indentation
should be consistent within a single file.)
* Use lowerCamelCase for variable names, not UpperCamelCase.
* Function calls with attribute set arguments are written as
foo {
arg = ...;
}
not
foo
{
arg = ...;
}
Also fine is
foo { arg = ...; }
if it's a short call.
* In attribute sets or lists that span multiple lines, the attribute
names or list elements should be aligned:
# A long list.
list = [
elem1
elem2
elem3
];
# A long attribute set.
attrs = {
attr1 = short_expr;
attr2 =
if true then big_expr else big_expr;
};
* Short lists or attribute sets can be written on one line:
# A short list.
list = [ elem1 elem2 elem3 ];
# A short set.
attrs = { x = 1280; y = 1024; };
* Breaking in the middle of a function argument can give hard-to-read
code, like
someFunction { x = 1280;
y = 1024; } otherArg
yetAnotherArg
(especially if the argument is very large, spanning multiple lines).
Better:
someFunction
{ x = 1280; y = 1024; }
otherArg
yetAnotherArg
or
let res = { x = 1280; y = 1024; };
in someFunction res otherArg yetAnotherArg
* The bodies of functions, asserts, and withs are not indented, so
assert system == "i686-linux";
stdenv.mkDerivation { ...
not
assert system == "i686-linux";
stdenv.mkDerivation { ...
* Function formal arguments are written as:
{arg1, arg2, arg3}:
but if they don't fit on one line they're written as:
{ arg1, arg2, arg3
, arg4, ...
, argN
}: