The code style we follow in the EasyBuild code repository is mainly dictated by PEP008.
One big exception to PEP 8 is our preference of longer line lengths. We’re well into the 21st Century, and we have high-resolution computer screens that can fit way more than 79 characters on a screen. Don’t limit lines of code to 79 characters if it means the code looks significantly uglier or is harder to read, limit is 120 characters.
Principal outtakes from PEP8
- Use four spaces for indentation.
- Use optional underscores, not camelCase, for variable, function and method names (i.e. poll.get_unique_voters(), not poll.getUniqueVoters).
- Use InitialCaps for class names.
- In docstrings, don't use “action words”.
- Indent items in a list at an extra 4 spaces. nested lists can be indented at the same indentation as the first item in the list if it is on the first line, closing brackets must match visual indentation.
pep8 might be a useful tool to enforce the code style more strictly.
Style guides that go a step beyond PEP0008:
- http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Programming_guidelines
- http://code.google.com/p/volatility/wiki/StyleGuide
Automatic rewriting of Python code: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/PythonTidy/1.22
Check PEP8 compliance: https://github.com/jcrocholl/pep8