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The C# Style Guide

This style guide is based on this other C# style guide and expands upon it.

You can use whatever file editor you want, but Visual Studio is probably the most popular and recommended choice. It's free, has many features, and integrates well with Unity and Git. If you're a student, we recommend getting a copy of ReSharper, which adds a lot of code hints and shortcuts that will significantly improve your code quality.

Our overarching goals are clarity, readability and simplicity. Also, this guide is written to keep Unity in mind.

Inspiration

This style guide is based on C# and Unity conventions, and discussions within the development team.

Table of Contents

Nomenclature

On the whole, naming should follow C# standards.

Namespaces

Namespaces are all PascalCase, multiple words concatenated together, without hypens ( - ) or underscores ( _ ):

Namespaces should be used for major systems, such as Atmospherics, or Electrics. Everything else should be without namespace.

BAD:

com.ress3dclient.scripts.structures

GOOD:

Structures.Door

Classes & Interfaces

Written in PascalCase. For example RadialSlider.

Methods

Methods are written in PascalCase. For example DoSomething().

Fields

All non-static fields are written camelCase. Per Unity convention, this includes public fields as well.

For example:

public class MyClass 
{
    public int publicField;
    private int packagePrivate;
    private int myPrivate;
    protected int myProtected;
}

BAD:

private int _myPrivateVariable

GOOD:

private int myPrivateVariable

Static fields are the exception and should be written in PascalCase:

public static int TheAnswer = 42;

Parameters

Parameters are written in camelCase.

BAD:

void DoSomething(Vector3 Location)

GOOD:

void DoSomething(Vector3 location)

Single character values are to be avoided except for temporary looping variables.

Delegates

Delegates are written in PascalCase.

When declaring delegates, DO add the suffix EventHandler to names of delegates that are used in events.

BAD:

public delegate void Click()

GOOD:

public delegate void ClickEventHandler()

DO add the suffix Callback to names of delegates other than those used as event handlers.

BAD:

public delegate void Render()

GOOD:

public delegate void RenderCallback()

Using built.in C# features, such as Action, is encouraged in place of delegates.

Events

Prefix event methods with the prefix On.

BAD:

public static event CloseCallback Close;

GOOD:

public static event CloseCallback OnClose;

Misc

In code, acronyms should be treated as words. For example:

BAD:

XMLHTTPRequest
String URL
findPostByID

GOOD:

XmlHttpRequest
String url
findPostById

Declarations

Access Level Modifiers

Access level modifiers should be explicitly defined for classes, methods and member variables. This includes defining private even though C# will implicitly add it.

Use the least accessible access modifier, except for public member that is expected to be used by other classes in the future.

Fields & Variables

Prefer single declaration per line.

BAD:

string username, twitterHandle;

GOOD:

string username;
string twitterHandle;

Classes

Exactly one class, struct, or interface per source file, although inner classes are encouraged where scoping appropriate.

Interfaces

All interfaces should be prefaced with the letter I.

BAD:

RadialSlider

GOOD:

IRadialSlider

Spacing

Spacing is especially important to make code more readable.

Indentation

Indentation should be done using spaces — never tabs.

Blocks

Indentation for blocks uses 4 spaces for optimal readability:

BAD:

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) 
{
  Debug.Log("index=" + i);
}

GOOD:

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) 
{
    Debug.Log("index=" + i);
}

Line Wraps

Indentation for line wraps should use 4 spaces (not the default 8):

BAD:

CoolUiWidget widget =
        someIncrediblyLongExpression(that, reallyWouldNotFit, on, aSingle, line);

GOOD:

CoolUiWidget widget =
    someIncrediblyLongExpression(that, reallyWouldNotFit, on, aSingle, line);

Line Length

Lines should be no longer than 100 characters long.

Vertical Spacing

There should be just one or two blank lines between methods to aid in visual clarity and organization. Whitespace within methods should separate functionality, but having too many sections in a method often means you should refactor into several methods.

Brace Style

All braces get their own line as it is a C# convention:

BAD:

class MyClass {
    void DoSomething() {
        if (someTest) {
          // ...
        } else {
          // ...
        }
    }
}

GOOD:

class MyClass
{
    void DoSomething()
    {
        if (someTest)
        {
          // ...
        }
        else
        {
          // ...
        }
    }
}

Conditional statements are always required to be enclosed with braces, irrespective of the number of lines required.

BAD:

if (someTest)
    doSomething();  

if (someTest) doSomethingElse();

GOOD:

if (someTest) 
{
    DoSomething();
}  

if (someTest)
{
    DoSomethingElse();
}

Switch Statements

Switch-statements come with default case by default (heh). If the default case is never reached, be sure to remove it.

If the default case is an unexpected value, it is encouraged to log and return an error

BAD

switch (variable) 
{
    case 1:
        break;
    case 2:
        break;
    default:
        break;
}

GOOD

switch (variable) 
{
    case 1:
        break;
    case 2:
        break;
}

BETTER

switch (variable) 
{
    case 1:
        break;
    case 2:
        break;
    default:
        Debug.LogError("Unexpected value when...");
        return;
}

Language

Use US English spelling.

BAD:

string colour = "red";

GOOD:

string color = "red";

The exception here is MonoBehaviour as that's what the class is actually called.

Common Patterns and Structure

This section includes some rules of thumb for design patterns and code structure

Error handling

Avoid throwing exceptions. Instead log and error. Methods returning values should return null in addition to logging an error

BAD:

public List<Transform> FindAThing(int arg){
    ...
    if (notFound) {
        throw new NotFoundException();
    }
}

GOOD:

public List<Transform> FindAThing(int arg){
    ...
    if (notFound) {
        Debug.LogError("Thing not found");
        return null;
    }
}

Default Script Comments

We know what Start and Update does. Please remove their comments when you create them through the editor.

NO:

// Use this for initialization
void Start() {
    ...
}

YES:

private void Start() {
    ...
}

Finding references

Don't use Find or in other ways refer to game objects by name or child index when possible. Reference by reference is less error prone and more flexible. Expect people to set the fields in the inspector and log warnings if they don't.

BAD:

private GameObject someMember;

private void Start() {
    someMember = GameObject.Find("ObjectName");
}

GOOD:

public GameObject someMember;

RequireComponent

Prefer RequireComponent and GetComponent over AddComponent. Having the components in the inspector let's us edit them. AddComponent limits us.

BAD:

public class : MonoBehaviour
{
    private AudioSource audioSource;

    private void Start() {
        audioSource = gameObject.AddCompenent<AudioSource>();
    }
}

GOOD:

[RequireComponent(typeof(AudioSource))]
public class : MonoBehaviour
{
    private AudioSource audioSource;

    private void Start() {
        audioSource = GetCompenent<AudioSource>();
    }
}

Properties with backing fields

Properties can be used for access control to fields, and when using backing fields they can be private and let us change them in the inspector. Consider when a fields should be public and prefer properties with backing fields.

Sometimes it's just nice to see them for debugging, even if we don't change them, so consider making more of your private fields visible.

OKAY:

public GameObject someMember;

BETTER:

[SerializeField] private GameObject someMember;
public GameObject SomeMember => someMember;