You must check to ensure that the following items are met before you turn in your code.
 

1.  Header for the file:  Every file that is part of an assignment must contain the following items as comments on the top of page in the file. The "Description of the program" should appear only the file
that contains the "main" method.

  /**************************************************
                  Author:

                  User Name:

                  Assignment Number:

                  Date of Submission:

                  Name of this file:

                  Description of the program:

  *********************************************************************/

2.  Variable Names: All variable names must be meaningful. Only exceptions are for loop indices and they can be i, j, k etc. Note that every variable name must begin with a small letter and if two or more words are joined together, then all except the first word must begin with capital letter. Examples:
count, sum, grandTotal, lengthOfPassengerName etc.

3. Method names: All method names must obey the above rule 2, however in addition, the method
names are expected to indicate an action being performed, or a job that is being accomplished. Examples: initialize, countAll, checkIsleOrWindow, etc.

3. Class names: All class names should be meaningful. All class names must begin with a capital letter and if two  or more words are combined to form a class name, then the first letter of every name should be a capital letter. Examples:Passenger, CheckingAccount, SavingsAccount etc

4.  Constants: User defined constants in Java are obtained by using the keyword "final". Use all capital letters in defining constants. Also use the "_" to combine words in constants. Examples: PI, MAX_SIZE, MIN_SIZE etc.

5. Header Comments: Every method must contain a header as below.

 /**************************************************
      Method Name:

      Input to the method:

      Output(Return value):

      Brief description of the task:

      Author: (especially important for group projects)

  **************************************************/

No method should be more than a page of printout.  Similar headers must be generated for each class and interface.

6. White Space:  Separate the code into blocks by using white space. The code should look clean and should be readable, and it should easy to find the beginning and end of methods, classes, loops etc.

7. Indentation: Use proper indentation to separate code into blocks. This means that lines inside
loops, branching statements and methods and classes should be properly indented.  If the body of the loop, if statement of else statement is a single statement, (not a block) indent the statement three spaces on its own line. Put the left brace, {,  starting each new block on the same line as the construct that defines it, such as a class, method, loop, if statement or else clause.  The terminating right brace (}) should line up with the construct. Example,

while (total < 9)  {
        total += 5;
        System.out.println("The total is " + total);
}

8. In-line Comments:  Comments must be accurate. Keep comments updated when the code changes. Every  related block of code (5 to 8 lines) must be preceded a line of comment. Do not comment every line. There cannot be pages and pages of code no single line of comment. Do not use java language while writing comments, instead use english sentences.

 Note: Here is way to check if your comments are appropriate: Assume that a  person with no knowledge of your assignment and no knowledge of Java reads only the comments of your program. The person should understand "what" task the program does and "how" it accomplishes that task.

9. Line Length: Restrict the length of lines in your source code and  output to at most 80 characters.

10. Messages, Prompts :  Do not condescend. Do not attempt to be humerous. Be informative, but succinct. Define specific input options in prompts, when appropriate. Specify default selections in prompts when appropriate. For every input you are requesting from the user, you must describe the format you want the imformation in.
 

11. Output: Label all output clearly. Present the information in a consitent manner. Ensure that output is readable.
 

B. Structured Programming: Do not use "continue" statement. Only use "break" statement to terminate cases in the "switch" statement". Have only one "return" in each method unless it complicates the code too much.

C. Classes and Methods: Do not have additional methods in a class that contains "main" method. Define the class that contains the "main" as the first class in the file. If only one class is imported from a package, import only that class. If two are more are imported, import all classes.

D. Modifiers: Do not declare class variables with "public" visibility. Always use appropriate modifiers for each situation. If a variable is never modified in a program make it "final". Use "final" instead of literals.