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Java Style

This style is specific to the guidelines at UW when using Java, different languages will have different styles, and different schools and companies may have different styles as well. To ensure full-credit on your programming assignments follow these styles.

General

  • Every statement should be on its own line
  • No single line should contain more than 100 characters, including white space
  • Use curly braces consistently
  • Put a single space on both sides of all binary operations (e.g., 2 + 3, int x = y)
  • Put a single space after any commas in method calls or parameter lists (e.g., String word, int num)
  • Do not use break statements

Classes

  • Start all class names with an uppercase letter, every following word in the class name should also start with an uppercase letter (e.g., Box, FancyBox, SuperFancyBox)
  • There should be a comment block at the top of your programs with your name, date, class, TA name, assignment name, a blank line, followed by a brief description of what the program does
  • The brief description should describe what the program does, not how the program does it
  • This comment block should use single line comments, not block comments
  • There should be a blank line between your top comment block and the start of your code

Methods

  • Start all method names with a lowercase letter, every following word in the method name should start with an uppercase letter (.e.g., triangle, printTriangle, printFancyTriangle)
  • Directly above every method (except for main) there should be a comment that describes what it does, any parameters it takes in, and any values it returns
  • Reduce redundancy in your program by using static methods, but do not create methods that do too little
  • main should be a short summary of your program; readers of your code should be able to look at your main method and know exactly what your program will do
  • There should be exactly one blank line between every method in your entire program
  • There should be a single space between the closing paren of a method header and the opening curly brace of a method header (e.g., public static void Hello() {)
  • Avoid methods that contain a single print statement
  • Method commends should describe what the method does, not how it does it; they should also detail the parameters and the return value (if any)
  • Methods should represent one concrete task

Printing

  • main should generally not contain any print statements

  • To print a blank line use System.out.println(), avoid using System.out.println("")

  • Use println statements instead of print statements that end with \n

  • When printing a \n character, use printf and not print or println

  • Combine print statements when necessary, for example use

    // use this!
System.out.println("*");

    instead of

    // do not use these two lines!
System.out.print("*"); 
System.out.println();

Variables

  • Start all variable names with a lowercase letter, every following word in the variable name should start with an uppercase letter (.e.g., border, borderColor)
  • Variable names should clearly describe what the variable represents
  • If you do not need decimal precision use int instead of double

Constants

  • Constants should be named in all uppercase letters, with the words separated by underscores (e.g., ROCKET_SIZE)
  • Constants must start with public static final
  • Constants should only be used for single values that do not change
  • Constants should not be passed as parameters
  • Every constant should have a comment above it explaining what it represents and what happens when you change it

for loops

  • Avoid using for loops if they only run 1 time
  • Use a space between for and (,(e.g., for (int i = 1 ...)
  • Use descriptive loop variable names, OR use the i, j, k

Comments

  • All complicated parts of your code should include comments
  • There should be a space between the comment character and your actual comment (e.g., // comment)
  • Comments should directly line up with the code they describe
// prints "Hello"
public static void hello() {
   System.out.println("Hello");
}

import statements

  • Place import statements after the top comment block, and before the class