Coding guidelines summary for C#

coding-guidelines.md

Coding Guidelines (C#)

A summary of the official Microsoft C# coding conventions, based on Microsoft’s documentation.

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1. Naming Conventions

• PascalCase for class, property, method, and namespace names
  public class MyExampleClass { }
• camelCase for local variables and method parameters
  int itemCount;
• Private fields: camelCase (underscore prefix is not allowed)
  private int itemCount;
• Interface names: Prefix with I
public interface IMyInterface { }
• No Hungarian notation or type in variable names.
• Use descriptive, meaningful names.

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2. Layout and Formatting

• Indentation: 4 spaces per indentation level (no tabs).
• Curly braces:
  • For types and methods: Opening brace on a new line

    public class MyClass
    {
    }

  • For other blocks (if, else, etc.): Opening brace on a new line

    if (true) 
    {
    }

• Blank lines: Separate logical sections with blank lines for readability.
• Line length: Prefer lines under 120 characters.

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3. Organizing Code

• Place using directives at the top of the file, outside the namespace.
• Group similar code elements (fields, constructors, methods).
• Order elements by accessibility: public, internal, protected, private.

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4. Language Features

• Prefer var when the type is obvious or unimportant.
• Otherwise, use explicit type names for clarity.
• Use expression-bodied members for simple property or method definitions.
• Prefer modern C# features (pattern matching, interpolated strings, etc.) where appropriate.

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5. Comments

• Use XML documentation comments (///) for public APIs.
• Write clear, concise comments only where necessary.
• Avoid stating the obvious.

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6. Strings and Literals

• Use verbatim strings (@"") for file paths and regular expressions.
• Prefer string interpolation ($"Value is {value}") over concatenation.

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7. Error Handling

• Use exceptions for error handling, not return codes.
• Catch only exceptions you can handle.
• Avoid empty catch blocks (never swallow exceptions silently).

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8. Other Notable Conventions

• Prefer auto-properties for simple property definitions.
• Use collection and object initializers for clarity.
• Avoid regions except for generated or extremely large code files.

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This summary is based on the official Microsoft documentation and is intended as a quick reference.