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Commit bb0a1163 authored by Davis King's avatar Davis King
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Added the how to contribute page. 

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="stylesheet.xsl"?>
<doc>
<title>How to Contribute</title>
<!-- ************************************************************************* -->
<body>
<br/><br/>
<!-- **************************** EASY CONTRIBUTIONS **************************** -->
There are some simple ways to contribute to dlib:
<ul>
<li> You could make a dlib logo </li>
<li> Find confusing or incorrect documentation </li>
<li> Help make the web page prettier </li>
<li> Link to dlib from your web page </li>
<li> Add yourself or your project to the list of
<a href="http://dclib.wiki.sourceforge.net/dlib_users">dlib users</a> </li>
<li> Try to compile the dlib regression test suite on any platforms you
have access to </li>
</ul>
<!-- **************************** CODE CONTRIBUTIONS **************************** -->
Code contributions are also welcome, however, you should read over the coding guidelines below
and try to follow them. It is also probably a good idea to read the books Effective C++ and
More Effective C++ by Scott Myers. And as always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
<h2>Coding Guidelines</h2>
1. <a href="#1">Use Design by Contract</a><br/>
2. <a href="#2">Use spaces instead of tabs.</a><br/>
3. <a href="#3">Use the standard C++ naming convention</a><br/>
4. <a href="#4">Use RAII</a><br/>
5. <a href="#5">Don't use pointers</a><br/>
6. <a href="#6">Don't use #define for constants.</a><br/>
7. <a href="#7">Don't use stack based arrays.</a><br/>
8. <a href="#8">Use exceptions, but don't abuse them</a><br/>
9. <a href="#9">Write portable code</a><br/>
10. <a href="#10">Setup regression tests</a><br/>
11. <a href="#11">Use the Boost Software License</a><br/>
<ul>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>1</anchor>
<li> <h3> Apply Design by Contract to Your Code </h3>
<ul><p>
The most important part of a software library isn't the code, it is the set
of interfaces the library exposes to the user. These interfaces need to be easy
to use right, and hard to use wrong. The only way this
happens is if the interfaces are documented in a simple, consistent, and precise way.
</p>
<p>
The name for the way I design and document these interfaces is known as
Design by Contract. There is a lot that can be said about Design by Contract, in fact,
whole books have been written about it, and programming languages exist which
use Design by Contract as a central element. Here I will just go over some
of the basic ways it is used in dlib as well some of the reasons why it is a Good Thing.
</p>
<li> <b>Functions should have documented preconditions which are programmatically verifiable</b>
<ul>
<p>
Many functions have a set of requirements or preconditions that need to be satisfied
if they are to be used. If these requirements are not satisfied
when a function is called then the function will not do what it is supposed to do. Moreover,
any piece of software that calls a function but doesn't make sure all preconditions
are satisfied contains a bug, <i>by definition</i>.
</p>
<p>
This means all functions must precisely document their preconditions if they are to be
usable. In fact, all preconditions should be programmatically verifiable. Doing this
has a number of benefits. First, it means they are unambiguous. English
can be confusing and vague, but saying "<tt>some_predicate == true</tt>" uses a
formal language, C++, that we all should understand quite well. Second, it means
you can put checks into the code that will catch <i>all</i> usage errors.
</p>
<p>
These checks should always be implemented using
<a href="metaprogramming.html#DLIB_ASSERT">DLIB_ASSERT</a> or
<a href="metaprogramming.html#DLIB_CASSERT">DLIB_CASSERT</a> and they should always
cover all preconditions.
These macros take a boolean argument and if it is false they throw dlib::fatal_error. So
you can use them to check that all your preconditions are true. Also, don't forget that
a violated function precondition indicates a bug in a program.
That is, when dlib::fatal_error is thrown it means a bug has been found and the only thing
an application can do at that point is print an error message and terminate.
In fact, dlib::fatal_error has checks in it to make sure someone doesn't catch the
exception and ignore it. These checks will abruptly terminate any program that attempts
to ignore fatal errors.
</p>
<p>
The above considerations bring me to my next bit of advice. Developers new to Design by Contract
often think input validation should be part of a function's preconditions.
They then complain that labeling invalid program input as a bug, throwing fatal_error, and
terminating the application is a very bad thing. They are right, that would be a bad thing
and you should not write software that behaves that way. The way out of this problem is, of
course, to not consider invalid input a bug. Instead, you should perform explicit input validation
on any
data coming into your program <i>before</i> it gets to any functions that have preconditions
which demand the validated inputs. Moreover, if you make your preconditions programmatically verifiable
then it should be easy to validate any inputs by simply using whatever it is you
use to check your preconditions.
</p>
<p>
Consider the function <a href="algorithms.html#cross_validate_trainer">cross_validate_trainer</a> as an
example. One of its requirements is that the input forms a valid binary classification problem.
This is documented in the list of preconditions as
"<tt>is_binary_classification_problem(x,y) == true</tt>". This precondition is just saying
that when you call
the <tt>is_binary_classification_problem</tt> function on the x and y inputs it had better return true
if you want to use those inputs with the <tt>cross_validate_trainer</tt> function.
Given this information it is trivial to perform input validation. All you have to do is
call <tt>is_binary_classification_problem</tt> on your input data and you are done.
</p>
<p>
Using the above technique you have validated your inputs, documented your preconditions, and are
buffered by DLIB_ASSERT statements that will catch you if you accidentally forget to validate any
inputs.
</p>
<p>The thing to understand here is that
a violation of a function's preconditions means you have a bug on your hands. Or in other words,
you should never intentionally violate any function preconditions. But of course
it will happen from time to time because bugs are unavoidable. But at least with
this approach you will get a detailed error message early in development rather than a
mysterious segmentation fault days or weeks later.
</p>
</ul></li>
<li> <b>Functions should have documented postconditions </b>
<ul><p>
I don't have nearly as much to say about postconditions as I did about function requirements. You should
strive to write programmatically verifiable postconditions because that makes your postconditions
more precise. However, it is sometimes the case that this isn't practical and that is fine.
But whatever you do write needs to clearly communicate to the
user what it is your function does.
</p></ul></li>
<p>
Now you may be wondering why this is called <i>Design</i> by Contract and not Documentation
by Contract. The reason is that the process of writing down all these detailed descriptions
of what your code does becomes part of how you design software. For example, often you
will find that when you go to write down the requirements for calling a function you are unable
to do so. This may be because the requirements are so complex you can't think of a way
to describe them, or you may realize that you yourself don't even know what they are. Alternatively,
you may know what they are but there isn't any way to verify them programmatically. All these
things are symptoms of a bad <i>design</i> and the reason you became aware of this design problem
was by attempting to apply Design by Contract.
</p>
<p>
After you get enough practice with this way of writing software you begin to think a lot
more about questions like "how can I design this class such that every member function
has a very simple set of requirements and postconditions?" Once you start doing this
you are well on your way to creating software components that are easy to use right, and
hard to use wrong.
</p>
<p>
The notation dlib uses to document preconditions and postconditions is located in
the <a href="intro.html#notation">introduction</a>. All code that goes into dlib
must document itself using this notation. You should also separate the implementation
and specification of a component into two separate files as described in the introduction. This
way users don't even see implementation details when they look at the documentation for a
component.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>2</anchor>
<li><h3>Use spaces instead of tabs. </h3>
<ul> <p>This is just generally good advice but
it is especially important in dlib since everything is viewable
as pretty-printed HTML. Tabs show up as 8 characters in most browsers
and this results in the HTML version being difficult to read. So
don't use tabs.</p>
</ul></li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>3</anchor>
<li><h3> Never use capitol letters in the names of variables, functions, or
classes. Use the _ character to separate words. </h3>
<ul>
<p>
The reason dlib uses this style is because it is the style used by the
C++ standard library. But more importantly, dlib currently provides
an interface to users that has a consistent look and feel and it is
important to continue to do so.
</p>
<p>
As for constants, they should usually contain all upper case letters
but all lowercase is ok sometimes.
</p>
</ul></li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>4</anchor>
<li> <h3> Don't use manual resource management. Use RAII
instead.</h3>
<ul><p>
You should not be calling new and delete in your own code. You should instead
be using objects like the std::vector, <a href="containers.html#scoped_ptr">scoped_ptr</a>,
or any number of other objects that manage resources such as memory for you. If you want
an array use std::vector (or the checked <a href="containers.html#std_vector_c">std_vector_c</a>).
If you want to make a lookup table use a <a href="containers.html#map">map</a>. If you want
a two dimensional array use <a href="containers.html#matrix">matrix</a> or
<a href="containers.html#array2d">array2d</a>.
</p>
<p>
These container objects are examples of what is called RAII (Resource Acquisition Is Initialization)
in C++. It is essentially a name for the fact that, in C++, you can have totally automated and
deterministic resource management by always associating resource acquisition with the construction
of an object and resource release with the destruction of an object. I say resource management
here rather than memory management
because, unlike Java, RAII can be used for more than memory management. For example, when
you use a <a href="dlib/threads/threads_kernel_abstract.h.html#mutex">mutex</a> you first lock
it, do something, and then you need to remember to unlock it. The RAII way of doing this is
to use the <a href="api.html#auto_mutex">auto_mutex</a> which will lock a mutex and automatically
unlock it for you. Or suppose you have made a TCP <a href="api.html#sockets">connection</a>
to another machine and you want to be certain the resources associated with that connection
are always released. You can easily accomplish this with RAII by using the scoped_ptr as
shown in <a href="sockets_ex_2.cpp.html">this</a> example program.
</p>
<p>
RAII is a trivial technique to use. All you have to do is not call new and delete yourself and
you will never have another memory leak. Just use the appropriate <a href="containers.html">container</a>
instead. Finally, if you don't use RAII then your code is almost certainly not exception safe.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>5</anchor>
<li> <h3>Don't use pointers </h3>
<ul><p>
There are a number of reasons to not use pointers. First, if you are using pointers then
you are probably not using RAII. Second, pointers are ambiguous. When I see a pointer
I don't know if it is a pointer to a single item, a pointer to nothing, or
a pointer to an array of who knows how many things. On the other hand, when I see a
std::vector I know with certainty that I'm dealing with a kind of array. Or if I see a
reference to something then I know I'm dealing with exactly one instance of some object.
</p>
<p>
Most importantly, it is impossible to validate the state of a pointer. Consider two
functions:
<blockquote><tt>double compute_sum_of_array_elements(const double* array, int array_size); <br/>
double compute_sum_of_array_elements(const std::vector&lt;double&gt;&amp; array); </tt></blockquote>
The first function is inherently unsafe. If the user accidentally passes in an invalid pointer
or sets the size argument incorrectly then their program will crash and this will turn into a
potentially hard to find bug. This is because there is absolutely nothing you can do inside
the first function to tell the difference between a valid pointer and size pair and an invalid
pointer and size pair. <b><i>Nothing</i></b>. The second function has none of these difficulties.
</p>
<p>
If you absolutely need pointer semantics then you can usually use a smart pointer like
<a href="containers.html#scoped_ptr">scoped_ptr</a> or <a href="containers.html#shared_ptr">shared_ptr</a>.
If that still isn't good enough for you and you <i>really</i> need to use a normal C style pointer
then isolate your pointers inside a class so that they are contained in a small area of the code.
However, in practice the container classes in dlib and the STL are more than sufficient in nearly
every case where pointers would otherwise be used.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>6</anchor>
<li> <h3> Don't use #define for constants. </h3>
<ul><p>
dlib is meant to be integrated into other people's projects. Because of this everything
in dlib is contained inside the dlib namespace to avoid naming conflicts with user's code.
#defines don't respect namespaces at all. For example, if you #define a constant called SIZE then it
will cause a conflict with any piece of code <i>anywhere</i> that contains the identifier SIZE.
This means that #define based constants must be avoided and constants should be created using the
const keyword instead.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>7</anchor>
<li> <h3>Don't use stack based arrays. </h3>
<ul><p>
A stack based array, or C style array, is an array declared like this:
<blockquote><tt>int array[200];</tt></blockquote>
Most of my criticisms of pointers also apply to stack based arrays. So you should
use a container class instead and preferably one with the ability to do range
checking such as the <a href="containers.html#std_vector_c">std_vector_c</a>.
</p></ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>8</anchor>
<li> <h3> Use exceptions, but don't abuse them. </h3>
<ul><p>
Exceptions are good but should only be used for <i>exceptional</i> conditions.
This means that in the vast majority of use cases a user shouldn't
need to deal with the exceptions thrown by a library component near the point
of use. If that isn't true then whatever condition is triggering your exception
isn't exceptional. Or in other words, if the user would have to put try/catch
blocks around individual calls to your code then you are almost certainly using
exceptions wrong.
</p>
<p>
A good example of an exceptional condition is running out of memory. It doesn't happen
very often, and when it does happen it is hardly ever the case that you want to
deal with the out of memory exception right next to the place where you are
attempting to allocate memory.
</p>
<p>
Another way of looking at it is that exceptions shouldn't occur in the normal use
cases associated with a library component. For example, the C++ I/O streams allow
you to read the contents of a file on disk and when you hit the end of file they
do not throw an exception. The difference between hitting EOF and running
out of memory is that when everything is working properly your application will
routinely encounter ends of files but hopefully you do not routinely run out of memory.
</p>
<p>
As an aside, it is also important that your exception classes inherit from
<a href="other.html#error">dlib::error</a>.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>9</anchor>
<li> <h3>Write portable code</h3>
<ul>
<li> <b>Don't make assumptions about how objects are laid out in memory. </b>
<ul> <p>
If you have been following the prohibition against messing around with
pointers then this won't even be an issue for you. Moreover, just about the only
time this should even come up is when you are casting blocks of
memory into structs or dumping the contents of memory to an I/O channel.
All of these things are highly non-portable so don't do them.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<li> <b> Don't make assumptions about endianness </b>
<ul><p>
This is self explanatory. Some machines are little endian and some are big endian.
It is just a fact of life. If you need to convert between the two then
please use the <a href="other.html#byte_orderer">byte_orderer</a> since it
can deal with these issues in a type safe way.
</p></ul>
</li>
<li> <b> All code that calls functions that aren't in dlib or the C++
standard library must be isolated inside the API wrappers.</b>
<ul><p>
If you want to contribute code to dlib that needs to use something that isn't
in the C++ standard then we need to introduce a new library component
in the <a href="api.html">API wrappers</a> section. The new component would
provide whatever functionality you need. This new component would have
to provide at least POSIX and win32 implementations.
</p>
<p>
It is also worth pointing out that <i>simple</i> wrappers around operating system
specific calls are usually a bad solution. This is because there are
invariably subtle, if not huge, differences between what is available on different
operating systems.
So being truly portable takes a lot of work. It involves reading everything
you can find about all the APIs needed to implement the feature on each target platform.
In many cases there will be important details that are undocumented and you will
only be able to find out about them by searching the internet for other developers
complaining about bugs in API functions X, Y, and Z. All this stuff needs to be abstracted
away to put a portable and simple interface in front of it. So this is a task
that shouldn't be taken lightly.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
</ul></li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>10</anchor>
<li> <h3>Library components should have regression tests</h3>
<ul>
<p>
dlib has a <a href="other.html#dlib_testing_suite">regression test suite</a> located in
the dlib/test folder. Whenever possible, library components should have tests
associated with them. GUI components get a pass since it isn't very easy to setup
automatic tests for them but pretty much everything else should have some sort
of test.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- **************************** -->
<anchor>11</anchor>
<li> <h3>You must use the Boost Software License</h3>
<ul>
<p>
Having the library use more than one open source license is confusing
so I ask that any code contributions be licensed under the Boost Software
License.
</p>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<!-- **************************** -->
</body>
<!-- ************************************************************************* -->
</doc>
docs/docs/main_menu.xml
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......@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@
<name>License</name>
<link>license.html</link>
</item>
<item>
<name>How to contribute</name>
<link>howto_contribute.html</link>
</item>
<item>
<name>Index</name>
<link>term_index.html</link>
......
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