Coding standards for C# development

Establishing coding standards for C# development is crucial for maintaining code consistency, readability, and maintainability across a project or a team. Here are some coding standards for C# development.

• PascalCase for Types: Classes, structs, enums, and delegates should use PascalCase (e.g., MyClass, CustomerService).
• camelCase for Methods and Variables: Method names, variable names, and parameters should use camelCase (e.g., myVariable, calculateTotal()).
• UPPER_CASE for Constants: Constants should be in uppercase with underscores separating words (e.g., MAX_VALUE, PI).
• Prefix Interfaces with ‘I’: Interface names should start with ‘I’ (e.g., IComparable, ILogger).

Indentation and Spacing:
• Use four spaces for indentation.
• Use spaces (not tabs) for indentation.
• Use a single space after keywords (if, for, while) and before opening parentheses.
• Use a space between operators (e.g., x = y + z, not x=y+z).

Bracing:
• Place opening braces on the same line as the declaration or control statement.
• Use consistent indentation for code within braces.

if (condition)
{
    // Code here
}

Error Handling:
• Use exception handling for exceptional conditions, not for normal program flow.
• Catch specific exceptions whenever possible instead of using a generic catch.

try
{
    // Code that may throw exceptions
}
catch (SpecificException ex)
{
    // Handle the specific exception
}

Code Organization:
• Keep classes and files short and focused on a single responsibility (Single Responsibility Principle).
• Use regions sparingly and only to organize large sections of code.

Using Directives:
• Keep using directives organized and remove unused ones.
• Use System namespaces at the top, followed by third-party namespaces and then your project’s namespaces.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using MyNamespace;

Avoid Magic Numbers:
• Avoid hardcoding numeric constants. Use named constants or configuration settings instead.

// Bad
if (statusCode == 404)

// Good
const int NotFoundStatusCode = 404;
if (statusCode == NotFoundStatusCode)

Consistency:
• Follow existing conventions within your project or team.
• If you make changes to the codebase, maintain the coding style and standards.

Method and Property Ordering:
• Maintain a consistent order for methods and properties within a class. A common order is constructors, properties, public methods, protected methods, private methods, and event handlers.

public class MyClass
{
    // Constructors

    // Properties

    // Public Methods

    // Protected Methods

    // Private Methods

    // Event Handlers
}

Nullable Value Types:
• Use nullable value types (e.g., int?) when a value type might need to represent an absence of a value.

int? nullableInt = null;
if (nullableInt.HasValue)
{
    // Use the value
}