ms_styleguide.md

macrosheds style guide

when in doubt, follow tidy style guide

• explicitly pass arguments where instructive/clarifying (e.g. first occurrence of call in a sequence of similar calls):

  myfunc(par1 = argx, par2 = argy)  
  myfunc(argz)
  

• redundantly name parameters that will be passed up the callstack:

  outer_func(foo = bar){  
      baz <- foo + 1  
      inner_func(foo = baz) #keep "foo" as the param name  
  }
  

  • edit deviations from this rule where they are encountered, but do not seek them

• find the happy medium of vertical sprawl:

  #too compact
  mutate(a = x + x, b = y + y, c = z + z) %>%
  
  #good
  mutate(
      a = x + x,
      b = y + y,
      c = z + z) %>%
  
  #whoa, nelly
  mutate(
      a = x + x,
      b = y + y,
      c = z + z
  ) %>%
  
  #if only one tidy operation, no need for a pipe
  select(df, a, b)
  

• use comments only where variable names can't speak for themselves. Generally, function names should be verbs and other variables should be named with nouns:

  #do thing with stuff
  out <- generic_funcname(x)
  
  #the above is lame. the below is better:
  
  thinged_stuff <- do_thing(specific_stuff)
  

• return must be used in all kernel and engine functions. even if it's just return(). our error handling scheme requires this.

• no space needed before the curly brace that sets off a function definition:

  myfunc <- function(){

• use spaces around most operators, including !, ==, %in%, +, <-, =, >=, etc.

  spaces are not needed around indexing/subsetting/referencing operators like [, [[, $, and ::

• use single quotes rather than double quotes to denote strings. Only use double quotes if your string includes literal "'"

• for loops over indices, use i as your loop counter. for nested loops, use j, then k, etc.

  • for loops over values, either use a single letter (other than i, j, k, l) that relates to the values being looped over, or use a short and descriptive word.

• set Rstudio to "Strip trailing horizontal whitespace when saving" in tools > global options > saving

#unprocessed stuff multiarg lines in shiny and when repetitive test all hbef products with get_avail_lter_product_sets