Code Style Guidelines

To maintain a level of quality in the codebase, the project maintains a set of coding and testing guidelines.

Indentation and spaces

A blank line should separate method declarations:

   ... // end of previous method
}
                 <-- blank line here
/** 
 * ... javadoc description
 */
public void someMethod() {
   ...

Four spaces, NOT a tab character, are used for regular indentation. For code broken into multiple lines, eight spaces are used indent lines after the first:

if (obj instanceof DefaultDevice) {
    return Objects.equals(this.id, other.id) &&
            Objects.equals(this.type, other.type) &&
            Objects.equals(this.manufacturer, other.manufacturer);

If the line has to break at an operator (such as "&&" in the example above), the operator should be at the end of the previous line.

If the line has to break at the dot separator "." (method invocation), the dot symbol should be at the beginning of the next line:

public void describeTo(Description description) {
    description.appendText("status '")
               .appendText(status.getDescription())
               .appendText("'");
}

Trailing whitespaces should be removed in both code and comments.

There should be a space between keywords (if, for, catch, etc.), parenthesis, and braces, as well as when casting:

if (timer != null) {
    try {
        DeviceId did = (DeviceId) elementId;
        ...
    } catch (IOException e) {
...

There should be a space before the curly braces in method definitions. Arguments are not padded (neither in definition nor invocation):
```
public Device getDevice(DeviceId deviceId) {
    return store.getDevice(deviceId);
}
```

The project uses Checkstyle to enforce some of the formatting mentioned above. Violations will prevent the build from succeeding.

Line Length

Recommended line-length limit is 80 characters, but it is understood if lines occasionally spill over this limit for aesthetic reasons. Chronic trespasses of the 80 character line-length boundary may fail the review.

Exceeding the maximum line-length of 120 characters will fail the build.

Comments

Javadocs are used to document the codebase itself. Interfaces are heavily documented with Javadocs so that implementing methods (annotated with @Override) inherit the commenting. Clarity of comments is important and therefore it is important to pay attention to detail and try to write concise, yet meaningful and clear comments.

Here are a few specific Javadoc conventions that come up in reviews frequently:

All public/protected/package entities must have javadoc comments.
Descriptions of interfaces/classes/enums should start with a noun, e.g. "Representation of..." and avoid starting with "This class...." .
Descriptions of constructors should start with a passive verb, e.g. "Creates..." and avoid starting with "This constructor..." or "Constructor", or "Default constructor"; they should be sentences and therefore be capitalized and punctuated properly.
Descriptions of methods should start with a passive verb, e.g. "Returns...", "Adds...", "Computes...", and avoid starting with "This method..."; as with constructor descriptions, they should be sentences and therefore be capitalized and punctuated properly.
Note that the first sentence of the method description will be used in the generated "Method Summary" section of the documentation page, and thus should be a one-sentence summary of what the method does (see example below).
Since javadoc text is parsed as HTML:
- the use of <p> (but not <p></p> or <p/>) should be used to mark paragraph breaks
- <pre> ... </pre> can be used for blocks of monospaced text (e.g. example code fragments)
- <ul><li> ... </li>... </ul> constructs can be used to list bullet points
"@param name description" should be specified on the same line and wrap as needed from there; there should not be a line break between name and description.
The description text for @param should a simple reminder to the reader as to what the parameter is; any detail about constraints or assumptions of parameters should be described in the method description.
Similarly, the text for the @return (for non-void methods) should be a simple summary of what is returned.
Unit tests classes should also have class javadoc comment; methods within do not need to have javadoc comments, although it is not discouraged.
Acronyms in comments should be properly capitalized, e.g. YANG, NETCONF, SNMP.
Descriptions should avoid gratuitous capitalization and should avoid referencing class-names unless part of a @link pragma.
Note that parameter types and return types should not be referenced with @link pragmas in the method description as the javadoc compiler will automatically provide hyperlinks to those entities in the constructed documentation page (see example below).

/**
 * Representation of something with "foo" behavior.
 * <p>
 * This is Javadoc commenting for classes and interfaces.
 * Javadoc descriptions are full sentences using English prose.
 */
public interface Foo {
 
    /**
     * Returns true if the given parameter is within tolerance of the sample.
     * <p>
     * Additional detail about what the method does, and maybe constraints
     * or assumptions about input parameters should be provided in the 
     * method description here.
     *
     * @param param functions that take arguments have this
     * @return methods that return a value should indicate this
     */
    boolean sampleMethod(Integer param);
}

At the time of this writing, various formats are used within the code.

/**
 * Implementing classes should have Javadocs as well, to emphasize 
 * their function.
 */
public class FooImpl implements Foo {
	
	/**
     * Important variables and structures should also be 
     * commented so that it is picked up by Javadocs.
     */
	private static final int SAMPLE = 5;

    @Override
    public boolean sampleMethod(int param) {
        // classic one-liner
        boolean val = false;
        /*
         * Multi-line comments within the code may use this 
         * convention.
         */
        if (param < SAMPLE) {
            // FIXME: multiple lines may be commented like this
            // for code that may be removed or changed
            // return true;  
            val = true;
        }
        return val;
    }	
}

Sample Javadoc generated documentation page

Interfaces and classes

Naming

Interfaces should always be given first pick of clear names that convey their purpose. For example, if there is an interface representing a network device, and a class implementing it, the interface should be given the name Device, and the class, something indicating that it implements the Device interface, e.g. DefaultDevice.

Class and interface names whose names are based on acronyms such as IP, PCEP, BGP, etc. should continue to follow the standard camel-casing convention, e.g. IpAddress, PcepService, BgpMessage. This maintains readability and avoids confusion between names of classes and names of constants. There are a few exceptions to this in ONOS code-base, mostly in legacy code; new code should adhere to the camel-casing convention, however.

Referencing

Wherever possible, references should be made to the interface, and not the implementing class. This includes method parameters.

Nested (Inner) classes

A class that implements functions specific to a particular class (e.g. its event handlers or services that it exports) should be implemented as an inner private class within the class. Such classes have names beginning with Internal-, e,g InternalClusterEventListener.

Objects, Methods, Fields and Variables

Data types

Wherever possible, use a rich data type over a primitive (e.g. MacAddress versus a long). This reduces ambiguity.

Immutable objects

Classes that are intended to be instantiated as immutable objects (e.g. DefaultDevice) should have all class variables declared final.

Collections (Sets, Maps, etc) returned by getters should be immutable, or a copy of the existing Collection.

@Override
public Iterable<Device> getDevices() {
    return Collections.unmodifiableCollection(devices.values());
}

 
// or, if copying
@Override
public Set<DeviceId> getDevices(NodeId nodeId) {
    Set<DeviceId> ids = new HashSet<>();
    for (Map.Entry<DeviceId, NodeId> d : masterMap.entrySet()) {
        if (d.getValue().equals(nodeId)) {
            ids.add(d.getKey());
        }
    }
    return ids;
}

Constants

Constant names should be all-uppercase-underline-delimited:
private static final long TIMEOUT_MS = 2_000;
private static final String APP_NAME = "org.onosproject.fooapp";
Recommendation: Constant strings for exception messages start with E_ prefix:
```
private static final String E_BAD_ARG = "Bad argument detected: {}";
```

Concurrency

Avoid synchronized(this) and synchronized methods wherever possible.

Opt for thread-safe objects such as ConcurrentMap, and if using synchronized, apply it to the structure that must be locked:

protected final Map<DeviceId, LinkDiscovery> discoverers = new HashMap<>();

@Override
public void event(MastershipEvent event) {
    ...
    synchronized (discoverers) {
        if (!discoverers.containsKey(deviceId)) {
            discoverers.put(deviceId, new LinkDiscovery(device,
                    packetSevice, masterService, providerService,
                    useBDDP));
        }
    }
}

Additionally, some structures such as Hazelcast's IMap have per-key locks.

equals() and hashCode()

Any objects that are compared, or stored in any hash based data structure (e.g. HashSet, HashMap), should implement these methods. For objects that implement them, comparisons should use their equals() method, and not ==. An exception to this rule are Enums.

Final keyword

Variables and parameters should not be gratuitously decorated with the final keyword. This is an out-dated convention from Java 1.1 era. The only time this is required is when the parameter is used as part of an anonymous class closure defines within the method. Otherwise, let the Java compiler/optimizer to its work. The final keyword should also be used to on class declarations to make objects of the class immutable.

Naming

JSON fields should be in camel case:
```
{
    "aliasIp": "10.1.2.3"
}
```
and not "alias_ip".

Logging

The codebase uses SLF4J for logging. DO NOT use System.out.*.

The logger should be private final, and associated with the particular class:

import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
...
private final Logger log = getLogger(getClass());
...
    /**
     * Checks if all the reachable devices have a valid mastership role.
     */
    private void mastershipCheck() {
        log.debug("Checking mastership");
        for (Device device : getDevices()) {

When adding logs for debugging, rather than using info or warn, use the debug or trace verbosity level and set the log level in Karaf to inspect the debug messages.

Usage of Guava (More of a tools section topic)

ONOS leverages guava in several areas. Some prominent areas are:

Checking for null method inputs - using checkNotNull():

import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
...
    @Override
    public void removeDevice(DeviceId deviceId) {
        checkNotNull(deviceId, DEVICE_ID_NULL);
        DeviceEvent event = store.removeDevice(deviceId);
        if (event != null) {
            log.info("Device {} administratively removed", deviceId);
            post(event);
        }
    }

toString() - ToStringHelper():

import static com.google.common.base.MoreObjects.toStringHelper;
...
    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return toStringHelper(this)
                .add("id", id)
                .add("vlan", vlan)
                .add("ipAddresses", ips)
                .toString();
    }

Data structures such as Lists, ImmutableSet, and HashMultiMap

Unit testing - EqualsTester():

import com.google.common.testing.EqualsTester;
...
VlanId vlan1 = VlanId.vlanId((short) -1);
VlanId vlan2 = VlanId.vlanId((short) 100);
VlanId vlan3 = VlanId.vlanId((short) 100);
 
// first two equality groups contain equal objects, last differs
// from constituents of first two groups
new EqualsTester().addEqualityGroup(VlanId.vlanId(), vlan1)
        .addEqualityGroup(vlan2, vlan3)
        .addEqualityGroup(VlanId.vlanId((short) 10));

Imports

Import statements are expected to be organized by the IDE. It is understood that different IDEs use a slightly different scheme for organization. Settings for both Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA are available to minimize (but not quite eliminate) these discrepancies.

Duplicate and unnecessary imports will result in build failure.

Home : Contributing to the ONOS Codebase

Page tree

Code Style Guidelines

Indentation and spaces

Line Length

Comments

Sample Javadoc generated documentation page

Interfaces and classes

Naming

Referencing

Nested (Inner) classes

Objects, Methods, Fields and Variables

Data types

Immutable objects

Constants

Concurrency

equals() and hashCode()

Final keyword

Naming

Logging

Usage of Guava (More of a tools section topic)

Imports