I am for it. I think most people are here too. The problem is, as ever, which standards to choose. Maybe we can figure out where there is agreement, enforce that, and not sweat smaller stuff (or add it over time).
For example I might suggest we bother drawing up guidelines on: - Line length (max 120?) - Indentation (space, 2 per unit?) - Braces (always use braces for blocks?) - Imports (no * imports, group by package) - Broad ordering of elements in classes (static fields, member fields, constructors, (everything else), inner classes?) I wonder if that would be non-controversial enough? On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 9:14 PM, Benson Margulies<bimargul...@gmail.com> wrote: > In CXF and XMLSchema, we use both checkstyle and eclipse to enforce > coding style and standards. There is technology to run this stuff from > maven and to cause the maven-eclipse-plugin to configure it into > eclipse. > > There's no telling if the exact set of style rules in use there will > seem attractive to the mahout group, but they do represent a potential > starting point. > > CXF, which is a big, multi-module project, keeps the rules in a > separate maven project and then uses that via classpath everywhere > else. XMLSchema, which is a one-pom-pony, does it all in one place. > > Assuming any appetite for this at all, the problem is bootstrapping. > The first time this is tried, it will call forth a big raft of picky > complaints. >