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 Developer Documentation for Konsole
 
 NOTE: this document is from 2007; a lot has changed.  Please ask on the
     Konsole mailing list if you need any guidance.
 
 Authors:        Robert Knight < robertknight@gmail.com >
 Last Updated:   7th May 2007
 Summary:        Introduction to Konsole developer documentation
 ===============================================================
 
 Contents:
 
 1.      Introduction
 2.      Documentation format
 3.      Documentation layout (aka. 'Where to find things')
 4.      Contributing to Konsole
     4.1     Discussion and help
     4.2     Submitting code
     4.2.1   API documentation guidelines
     4.2.2   Code style guidelines
 
 ===============================================================
 
 1.  Introduction
 
 This document explains the layout of the developer documentation folder,
 and basic guidelines for contributors.
 
 2.  Documentation format
 
 To try and make it easier for developers to find the information they need
 about Konsole, the use of a standard document template which answers the following
 questions is encouraged:
     
     - What is this document?
     - Who wrote it?
     - When was it last updated?
     - What is it about?
     - Where can I find information about <subject> within this document?
 
 The current template can be found in design/developer-documentation-template
 
 There is older documentation in the old-documents/ folder which does
 not follow this format.  This is kept as a reference.  Assistance
 in tidying up documentation from that directory by using the documentation
 template would be appreciated.
 
 3.  Documentation layout
 
 DELETED    design/           - Documentation about the design of Konsole, and templates 
                         for developer documentation.
 DELETED    design/historic   - Documentation which was prepared during the KDE 4.0x development
                         cycle but which is no longer relevant.
     
 DELETED    research/         - Results of research into user's experiences with Konsole
 
 DELETED    user-interface/   - Documentation concerning design and analysis of the user interface.
 
 DELETED    old-documents/  - An assortment of documentation which was created during earlier
                       releases of Konsole.  There is useful information here, particularly
                       about the type of terminal which Konsole emulates, but it is not
                       organised.
 
 4.  Contributing to Konsole
 
 Help with Konsole's development, whether it involves code, user interface suggestions or 
 other resources is greatly appreciated.
 
 4.1 Discussion and help
 
 Discussion about Konsole development takes place primarily on the Konsole mailing list,
 at konsole-devel@kde.org.  If you need help with Konsole development or wish to discuss
 implementation of a feature, fixes to bugs etc., then this is an appropriate place to
 do that.
 
 4.2  Submitting code
 
 Patches can be submitted for Konsole in a number of places:
 
     - For bugfixes, we recommend that you attach the patch to the relevant bug report on bugs.kde.org
     - For new features, a patch can be attached to a relevant wishlist report on bugs.kde.org if 
       there is one, and/or submitted to konsole-devel@kde.org
    
     If your patch adds new methods or classes then please ensure that there is API documentation for
     them in the code.  Looking at the header files for existing classes should give you an idea of 
     what is asked for.  
 
    
 4.2.1  API documentation guidelines
 
    Good API documentation in the code is very helpful for other developers.  Here are a few guidelines on 
    writing API documentation for Konsole:
 
         - All classes should have documentation which describes the basic function of the class.
           Usage examples are appreciated.
         - All public and protected methods should have API documentation which describes what
           the method does and what the returned value (if any) means.
           Parameter documentation is encouraged if the method has more than a couple of parameters
           or if the use of a parameter is not immediately clear from its name and type.
         - All public and protected enumerations and constants should have API documentation which
           describes what the various values mean.
         - The usage of brief standard comments next to private methods is encouraged to
           provide a quick explanation of what that method does.
 
 4.2.2   Code style guidelines
 
     The API style roughly follows that used in the Qt and KDE classes.  
 
     There are no strict guidelines on aspects of the code such as indentation, braces
     or spacing, although following the style of the existing code is a good idea.
     
     Below is a list of the most important style considerations which have been developed
     following experience working on earlier Konsole code:
 
     - Variables and methods should have CLEAR, verbose names.  The use of abbreviations
       should be avoided except for very common cases.
 
     - The use of named constants is preferred over literals for clarity, and also to prevent
       the need to edit each instance of a literal if the value needs to be changed.
 
     - The use of macros ( #define ) should be avoided where possible.  enums, inline methods
       templates, static constants etc. are strongly preferred. 
     - Inside classes, private member fields have an underscore prefix ( eg. _myPrivateField )
     - Private slots in classes DO NOT have a "slot" prefix before their name which is often
       seen in other KDE applications.
 
     Earlier Konsole code had a proliferation of two-letter variable names, which made it hard
     to read and understand in some places, and let directly to bugs in others.  Descriptive naming
     and sensible use of comments are strongly encouraged in new code.