This document is a brief description of the main coding style conventions in dwarfdump. Many of them will be obvious from the code, but over time some accidental diffences crept in. Code should be indented in multiples of 4 spaces, and tabs should not be used to indent the source code. Use the dicheck program to check indenting. The struct naming convention is 'struct my_struct_s' for the struct defined here (meaning the name should end with _s). It is better to not do struct typedefs of local structs. Coders should type 'struct mystruct_s'. Readability is much more important than brevity. Any data or function not referenced outside the defining source file should be declared 'static'. Any duplicated code is a candidate for refactoring into a subprogram. Function names should be all lower case with underbars with the goal that statements and comments 'read well'. Variables should be lower-case with underbars for readability. It's ok for a small loop with counters to use single letter names like i or k or m. Structure members should have a struct-specific 2-character prefix to the name (followed by an underbar). That makes it much easier to grep for uses of members. Try to keep lines under 80 characters in length. Ensure every if() has {} to enclose the actions. Use libdwarf.h types for all the data objects you define, though sometimes an 'unsigned' or 'int' or 'size_t' is ok in restricted circumstances. Dwarf_Unsigned and Dwarf_Signed are the preferred integer types for general use. ------------