case.
- Write all the letters of an initialism in one case. `revive` checks
common initialisms.
-- Put entry points first, then each struct's methods as a group, then
- standalone utility functions. Do not put a utility function between
- the methods of one type.
-- In each group, order functions by first use in the file.
+- Order declarations as imports, constants, variables, types,
+ constructors, methods, then standalone helpers. Types include structs,
+ interfaces, and aliases. Put all types before any constructor or
+ method, also when a file holds more than one type. The Tests section
+ gives the exception for files with tests.
+- Keep each type's methods in one group. Do not put a helper between
+ them. Order functions by first use within their declaration group, not
+ across groups. Entry points do not go before types or constructors
+ merely because they are entry points.
## Entry point and context
## Errors
-- Handle every returned error.
+- Handle every returned error, including an error assigned to `_`. Never
+ use a blank assignment to hide an unchecked error from a linter.
+ Handle meaningful errors. When the user approves an intentional
+ discard, call the operation with an explicit `// nolint: errcheck`
+ directive and a comment that gives the reason, not a blank assignment.
+ The `check` skill gives the approval rule.
- Reuse an existing `err` for later operations in the same scope. Use a
different variable only to keep or join errors.
- Use `errors.Is` and `errors.As` to examine errors. Do not compare an
table-driven test. A small type of two fields that acts as one value,
such as a key or a coordinate pair, can use a positional literal on
one line.
-- Put an empty line between logical blocks, also after multiline
- declarations, assignments, literals, and calls. Keep an operation with
- its immediate error or result check. Keep a short declaration with its
- immediate use. `wsl_v5` and `nlreturn` check part of this rule. Review
- the remaining logical blocks and immediate-use groups by hand.
+- Put an empty line between logical blocks and after multiline
+ declarations, assignments, literals, and calls. The only exception
+ after a multiline construct is its immediate error check. Separate a
+ multiline literal from a following loop, even when the loop uses that
+ literal. Keep a single-line declaration with its immediate use, and an
+ operation with its immediate error check. This does not waive the
+ separator after a multiline construct. `wsl_v5` and `nlreturn` check
+ only part of this rule. Review the other boundaries by hand.
- Use GNU-style command flags: two dashes for long flags, such as
`--cwd`, and one dash only for one-letter flags, such as `-h`.
- Prefer the Go standard library. Prefer Go over cgo.
- Name a table-driven case slice `testCases` and its range variable
`tc`. A subtest name describes the behavior, not a generic outcome or
input.
-- In a test file, put constants immediately after the imports, then the
- tests, then supporting types, methods, and helpers.
+- Each file with tests must have the name of its owning production file
+ with `_test` before `.go`: `memory_test.go` tests `memory.go`. Move
+ scenario and integration tests into their owner's test file. Do not
+ add an empty production file to make a test filename valid. Only
+ `_helper_test.go` files are exempt from this pairing rule.
+- In an ordinary `_test.go` file, order declarations as imports,
+ constants, variables, tests, supporting types, constructors, methods,
+ then helpers. This tests-first order is the exception to the
+ production order. Put all supporting types before their constructors
+ and methods.
+- A `_helper_test.go` file has no tests. Order its declarations as
+ imports, constants, variables, types, constructors, methods, then
+ helpers, as in a production file.
- Keep a helper that only one test file uses in that file. Put a helper
that more than one test file uses in a file without tests. Name that
file for what it holds, and end the name with `_helper_test.go`.