Testing of coding and naming conventions of C/C++ code

Question

I'm looking for a script/tool that can be customized to check and enforce coding/naming conventions on a C/C++ code.

It should check for example:

• Code lines are wrapped at some length.
• Private variables have prefix _
• Code is indented properly.
• All functions are documented.

Many of the projects I'm working on are outsourced by customers which tend to have various internal coding and naming conventions.

Answer 1

Don't know if it's really worth the time, but if you really want, you could try building something similar to google's cpplint, which does checking of their style guide.

I personally think that thorough reviews and people's commitment to follow certain conventions is a much better way to make sure your code is "indented properly" and variables named consistently. Maybe invest in making a document like google has done, describing the details of acceptable style, and have people in your company accept it and stick to it.

Why humans are better than a script? The answer is quite simple: people will have to deal with the code later, they should care about the stuff they are writing. A variable name like i will be fine for a script, but not going to slip from my eyes, if it is a clientCount, it should just be named appropriately, script which would be able to do that might take over the world rather soon. :)