The following applies to all programming courses unless otherwise noted. Note that COSC 2325 Computer Organization / Machine Language and COSC 3301 Programming Languages do not count as programming courses for purposes of best practices and version control usage. Non-programming courses will have class specific guidelines provided by the instructor.

Use this checklist to ensure your code meets the requirements for submission. This checklist is not exhaustive, but it covers the most common issues that can cause problems with your code submissions, and is simply bulleted list of the items you will find in detail in the submission guidelines, commenting guidelines, commiting guidelines, README guidelines, .gitignore guidelines, best practices for procedural and object-oriented programming, and the grading guidelines.

• Repo is correct and has no stray files or directories.
• A proper .gitignore file is present in the repo.
• A proper README file is present in the repo.
• Commits were made smart, small, and often.
• All code files have a proper file comment header at the top of the file (see examples).
• Function comment headers are present in all functions (including main) and contain all required information in the style specified by the examples.
• All file names are lowercase, no spaces (use underscores for spaces if needed).
• Name and references to names do not mix case.
• All variable, constant, ADT, and object names use the correct case are meaningful names.
• One and only one return statement is present in all functions.
• None of exit() or abort() or quit() in present in code.
• Literals are appropriately referenced and not use directly in code.
• Loops:
  • used properly between indeterminate and determinant
  • do not call functions in the loop header
  • do not declare variables inside loops (C/C++ only)
  • do not use unnecessary if statements inside loops
  • do not use break or continue
• Code is not repeated and properly modularized (use functions appropriately).
• Functions:
  • do one and only one thing
  • do not print (unless that is the function's only purpose)
  • vot too long (under 20 lines is a good rule of thumb)
  • not too short; do not make 1 or 2 line functions, although there are exceptions, such as getters
• The driver file (main) has one and only one function main().
• Class files have one and only one class definition and implementation.
• No class attributes are public.
• All code compiles/interprets and runs without errors or warnings.
• (C++ only) Class header file is commented properly and contains all required information in the style specified by the examples.
• (C/C++, PHP, Javascript) Code is properly indented and formatted including proper bracketing and spacing for all code (even if it's a 1-line block).
• (C/C++ only) No directives in .cpp files except that file's header file #include directive.
• (C/C++ only) Did not use global namespaces like using namespace std;.
• (C/C++ only) Class header files are structured correctly, maintaining proper separation of interface and implementation. See the notes and lectures on this topic.

This checklist is not exhaustive, so be sure to review all relevant guidelines, instructions, and specifications to ensure your code meets all requirements.