Coding standard

A coding standard (also known as code convention) is a document which defines conventions to be used in the writing of software source code. A coding standard will typically define a standard way of authoring error messages, collecting input, naming identifiers, formatting the source text and more.

Examples of commonly used coding standards include the GNU Coding Standard and Code Conventions for the Java™ language. Numerous more informal code styles have been defined also. Code styles typically only define how the text is formatted, as opposed to more general best practices.