Best Practices

Braces{}, Brackets[] and Parentheses()

• always type them in pairs, then add the required code between the balanced pair of "brackets"

Variables

• instance variables must be private
• variable names must be descriptors -- adjectives -- describing the contents of the variable
• keep the number of instance variables to a minimum. i.e. do not store a calculated value in an instance variable, use a method to calculate and return it when needed.

Methods:

• method names must describe the action of the method -- verb or verb phrases as method names
• do not daisy chain methods -- have method 1 call method 2 call method 3 etc.
• all method should fit on a screen -- 15 to 20 lines of code max -- often methods will be 2 or 3 lines long.
• each method should perform one small well defined action only
• methods should be private, unless other objects need to call them.

Classes

• create a constructor for each class, even if it is empty
• use nouns for class names

GUI:

• logic and ui decoupling