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section about comments

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DELTA=125  (13 added, 62 deleted, 50 changed)
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Rob Pike 2009-08-19 16:39:25 -07:00
parent 38df5ec58d
commit 11e4db7c12

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@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Go is a new language. Although it's in the C family
it has some unusual properties that make effective Go programs
different in character from programs in existing languages.
A straightforward translation of a C++ or Java program into Go
is unlikely to produce a satisfactory result - Java programs
is unlikely to produce a satisfactory resultJava programs
are written in Java, not Go.
On the other hand, thinking about the problem from a Go
perspective could produce a successful but quite different
@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ prescriptive style guide.
</p>
<p>
With Go we take a different, somewhat radical
With Go we take an unusual
approach and let the machine
take care of most formatting issues.
A program, <code>gofmt</code>, reads a Go program
@ -126,23 +126,33 @@ x&lt;&lt;8 + y&lt;&lt;16
<h2>Commentary</h2>
<h3 id="line-comments">Use line comments</h3>
<p>
Go provides C-style <code>/* */</code> block comments
and C++-style <code>//</code> line comments.
Use line comments by default,
reserving block comments for top-level package comments
and commenting out large swaths of code.
Line comments are the norm;
block comments appear mostly as package comments and
are also useful to disable large swaths of code.
</p>
<h3 id="pkg-comments">Write package comments</h3>
<p>
The program—and web server—<code>godoc</code> processes
Go source files to extract documentation about the contents of the
package.
Comments that appear before top-level declarations, with no intervening newlines,
are extracted along with the declaration to serve as explanatory text for the item.
The nature and style of these comments determines the
quality of the documentation <code>godoc</code> produces.
</p>
<p>
Every package should have a package comment, a block
Every package should have a <i>package comment</i>, a block
comment preceding the package clause.
It should introduce the package and
For multi-file packages, the package comment only needs to be
present in one file, and any one will do.
The package comment should introduce the package and
provide information relevant to the package as a whole.
It will appear first on the <code>godoc</code> page and
should set up the detailed documentation that follows.
</p>
<pre>
@ -170,11 +180,7 @@ package regexp
</pre>
<p>
XXX no extra *s or boxes XXX
Consider how the package comment contributes to the appearance
of the <code>godoc</code> page for the package. Don't just
echo the doc comments for the components. The package comment
can be brief.
If the package is simple, the package comment can be brief.
</p>
<pre>
@ -182,113 +188,58 @@ can be brief.
// manipulating slash-separated filename paths.
</pre>
<h3 id="doc-comments">Write doc comments</h3>
<p>
If a comment immediately precedes a top-level declaration,
the <a href="/">Go documentation server</a>
<font color=red>(TODO: that's not a public URL.)</font>
uses that comment as the documentation
for the constant, function, method, package, type or variable being declared.
These are called <i>doc comments</i>.
To detach a comment from a declaration, insert a blank
line between them.
Comments do not need extra formatting such as banners of stars.
The generated output may not even be presented in a fixed-width font, so don't depend
on spacing for alignment—<code>godoc</code>, like <code>gofmt</code>,
takes care of that.
Finally, the comments are uninterpreted plain text, so HTML and other
annotations such as <code>_this_</code> will reproduce <i>verbatim</i> and should
not be used.
</p>
<p>
Inside a package, any comment immediately preceding a top-level declaration
serves as a <i>doc comment</i> for that declaration.
Every exported (capitalized) name in a program should
have a doc comment, as should the package declaration itself.
If a name appears multiple times due to forward declarations
or appearance in multiple source files within a package, only
one instance requires a doc comment, and any one will do.
have a doc comment.
</p>
<p>
Doc comments consist of complete English sentences.
Doc comments work best as complete English sentences, which allow
a wide variety of automated presentations.
The first sentence should be a one-sentence summary that
starts with the name being declared:
</p>
<pre>
// Quote returns a double-quoted Go string literal
// representing s. The returned string s uses Go escape
// sequences (\t, \n, \xFF, \u0100) for control characters
// and non-ASCII characters.
func Quote(s string) string {
// Compile parses a regular expression and returns, if successful, a Regexp
// object that can be used to match against text.
func Compile(str string) (regexp *Regexp, error os.Error) {
</pre>
<p>
Use of complete English sentences admits
a wider variety of automated presentations.
</p>
<h3 id="ascii-art">Avoid ASCII Art</h3>
<p>
XXX to the formatting section XXX
Go programs are meant to read equally well using
fixed-width and variable-width fonts.
Don't use fancy formattings that depend on fixed-width fonts.
In particular, don't assume that a single space is the same
width as every other character.
If you need to make a columnated table, use tabs to separate
the columns and the pretty printer will make
sure the columns are lined up properly in the output.
</p>
<p>
If you need comments to separate
sections in a file, use a simple block comment:
</p>
<pre>
/*
* Helper routines for simplifying the fetching of optional
* fields of basic type. If the field is missing, they return
* the zero for the type.
*/
</pre>
or
<pre>
/*
Helper routines for simplifying the fetching of optional
fields of basic type. If the field is missing, they return
the zero for the type.
*/
</pre>
<p>
Comments are text, not HTML; they contain no markup.
Refrain from ASCII embellishment such as <code>*this*</code> or <code>/this/</code>.
</p>
<h3 id="groups">Use grouping to organize declarations</h3>
<p>
Go's declaration syntax allows grouping of declarations.
A comment can introduce a group of related constants or variables.
A single doc comment can introduce a group of related constants or variables.
Since the whole declaration is presented, such a comment can often be perfunctory.
</p>
<pre>
// Flags to Open, wrapping those of the underlying system.
// Not all flags may be implemented on a given system.
const (
O_RDONLY = syscall.O_RDONLY; // Open file read-only.
O_WRONLY = syscall.O_WRONLY; // Open file write-only.
// Error codes returned by failures to parse an expression.
var (
ErrInternal = os.NewError("internal error");
ErrUnmatchedLpar = os.NewError("unmatched '('");
ErrUnmatchedRpar = os.NewError("unmatched ')'");
...
)
</pre>
<p>
A grouping can also indicate relationships between items,
such as the fact that a set of variables is controlled by
a mutex.
Even for private names, grouping can also indicate relationships between items,
such as the fact that a set of variables is controlled by a mutex.
</p>
<pre>
// Variables protected by countLock.
var (
countLock sync.Mutex;
inputCount uint32;