For any software application in production and produced by a development team, coding standards are an essential tool for promoting maintainability and quality. Google has recently published their coding standards for R, with a compendium of common-sense tips for keeping an R project in shape. The standards Google R programmers adhere to include:
- File Names: end in .R
- Identifiers: variable.name, FunctionName, kConstantName
- Line Length: maximum 80 characters
- Indentation: two spaces, no tabs
-
Curly Braces: first on same line, last on own line
- Assignment: use <-, not =
- Semicolons: don’t use them
-
Commenting Guidelines: all comments begin with # followed by a space; inline comments need two spaces before the #
Follow the link below to see the other standards and all of the details. (Thanks to Daniel Levine of TechCrunch for the tip.)
Google Code: Google’s R Style Guide
