Coding standards and best practices

To all London (and UK) folk,
Having just got back from a mind blowing DrupalCon Paris, we were discussing on the train back the possibility of starting a regular London based code sprint. Brightlemon would be happy to host and organise it - provide the logistics etc.

http://drupal.org/node/487802

Since the issue is already going strong, probably discuss over there, rather than here. Just letting you know about the discussion. :)

I just saw my latest Drupal article is now published on Adobe.com, and this is the first in a series I have produced.

"Read on to see how you can set up a Drupal site in just 10 steps. Learn about adding content, altering menus, modules, and themes, and how to get your site ready for search engines and users."

Read the article now at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/drupal_site_in_10_steps...

The following two things are well known conventions but I was unable to find any documentation on d.o for them:

1. Sub-Module names.
   These are modules within modules (which are really projects on d.o). The convention, as I understand it is: {core_module_name}_{sub_module}. This basically ensures that no sub-modules will use the same namespace as contributed modules or sub-modules.
2. Function Names.
   We know that all hooks have to be prefixed with the module name, but it is only common practice to make any other public or private function prefixed with module name (as well as the leading underscore (_) for "private" functions): {module_name}_{action}. Again, this basically handles name collisions with other contributed modules. This standard could also include how to form function names, for example as suggested by webchick: {module_name}_{verb}_{thing_being_verbed}

So, what I need from this great group is:

1. Are these agreed upon standards?
2. Where is the best place for this documentation?
   There is: Module Development, but even under that, there is no general module development guidelines (instead of specific version)
   And: Standards and Security
   Or: some other.

I posted some questions on API formatting conventions in http://drupal.org/node/422084.

webchick recommended I post them here for consideration. The discrepancies I listed are all present in the core API document in the various api.php files.

Let me know what the convention is/should be. Thanks!

I've heard various rumblings in #drupal from people who don't like the current DBTNG code style for one reason or another. Since PDO doesn't have coding standards, we've had to make up our own. Complaints range from it being inconsistent (which wouldn't shock me, since it was decided sort of piecemeal between random conversations between Larry and myself) to not being easily formatted in tools like Coder Format and emacs (which is a big problem) to just being kind of "icky." Not having this nailed down is actively blocking issues such as porting core files to DBTNG.

So let's have it out! Here's the current syntax. Can you do better? And why?

As DamZ mentioned on IRC, this is roughly equivalent to the "Database API and square dance group." ;) There is already the HIgh Performance group for performance optimization.

How about "Coding standards and best practices" which includes coding standards as they relate to performance, security, upgrading, and all the other stuff Coder can do, as well as things it can't yet.

Thanks, this was fixed by sun. :)

This is a wiki to plan a module to allow admins to add indexes to their site schema - this can be done easily in Drupal 6 and beyond using http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_schema_alter/6 - this discussion came from http://drupal.org/node/231453, where it was realized that CCK does not really have the usage context to be able to do this effectively, and also there are tables beyond CCK getting used in new ways by views and other modules that also need alternate indexes.