CMS Coding Rules

In order to achieve the goal of writing maintainable, readable, efficient, reliable and re-useable software for CMS, it is important to adhere to a high quality standard. One item mandatory to achieve this is a focus on programming techniques, and the ability to avoid the pitfalls of a language as complex as C++. To mitigate the related risk for our software, we agreed on a set of coding rules for CMS off-line software concerning C++ code, which is documented below. Rules on coding style, and general recommendations of programming techniques and design are documented in separate notes.